thedrifter
10-13-06, 04:04 PM
October 13, 2006
Corps quiet on vest design
By Christian Lowe and David Brown
Staff writers
Marine Corps officials have awarded a contract to manufacture an improved body armor vest. Yet as of Oct. 13, almost three weeks after the winning bidder was chosen, they are still mum on the details.
The $33 million contract went to Sunrise, Fla.-based Protective Products International Corp. to start work on the “Modular Tactical Vest.”
The new outer tactical body armor vest is designed to bear a typical Marine’s load and integrate weapons and radios better than the current Point Blank Body Armor-manufactured Interceptor Outer Tactical Vest.
The Corps asked for prototypes this spring and tested the designs this summer, putting the armor through a barrage of field evaluations simulating real-world use.
Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., declined to provide further information on the new vest, stating that it would be “inappropriate to discuss specific details of the MTV or the contract until after the competitors who were not awarded the contract have been properly briefed and allowed sufficient time for rebuttal.”
That briefing occurred Oct. 12, after which the bidders who did not win the contract were given five business days to lodge a protest. SysCom officials said that after that time, they will grant interviews and provide photographs of the winning design.
However, there is no prohibition against the Marine Corps discussing the winning design publicly once the losing bidders have been briefed, said Jim McAleese, principal attorney and owner of McAleese & Associates, a government contracting and national security law firm in McLean, Va.
“It is in the best interest of the 20,000 Marines in Iraq for them to be absolutely informed at the soonest opportunity of the specific advances in survivability, weight and mobility that they’re going to be equipped with,” he said.
Protective Products’ program manager for the MTV, Skip Church, declined to comment on his company’s winning design, saying SysCom had requested that all inquiries about the product be directed through its office.
Marine officials have said they hope to start producing a 60,000-vest order in October, fielding them to units as they deploy to Iraq early next year.
Marines have complained of discomfort and lack of mobility with the current vest, which has steadily become heavier with the addition of more robust protective plates. The vest contains pockets on the front, back and sides that hold heavy ceramic Small Arms Protective Insert plates to protect different regions of the torso.
This year, the Corps began replacing those plates with heavier ones, called Enhanced-SAPIs, which offer even better ballistic protection.
Yet as the protection increases, so does the weight. And SysCom officials have previously acknowledged that the OTV is reaching the limits of what it was designed to carry.
The MTV is designed with that increased load in mind and also offers: increased areas of protection in the side torso, lower back and shoulder areas; quick-release capability; improved vest design for closure; and integrated routing for communications wiring.
The new vest will not come with new plates. It will use the existing E-SAPI plates from the OTV.
Ellie
Corps quiet on vest design
By Christian Lowe and David Brown
Staff writers
Marine Corps officials have awarded a contract to manufacture an improved body armor vest. Yet as of Oct. 13, almost three weeks after the winning bidder was chosen, they are still mum on the details.
The $33 million contract went to Sunrise, Fla.-based Protective Products International Corp. to start work on the “Modular Tactical Vest.”
The new outer tactical body armor vest is designed to bear a typical Marine’s load and integrate weapons and radios better than the current Point Blank Body Armor-manufactured Interceptor Outer Tactical Vest.
The Corps asked for prototypes this spring and tested the designs this summer, putting the armor through a barrage of field evaluations simulating real-world use.
Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., declined to provide further information on the new vest, stating that it would be “inappropriate to discuss specific details of the MTV or the contract until after the competitors who were not awarded the contract have been properly briefed and allowed sufficient time for rebuttal.”
That briefing occurred Oct. 12, after which the bidders who did not win the contract were given five business days to lodge a protest. SysCom officials said that after that time, they will grant interviews and provide photographs of the winning design.
However, there is no prohibition against the Marine Corps discussing the winning design publicly once the losing bidders have been briefed, said Jim McAleese, principal attorney and owner of McAleese & Associates, a government contracting and national security law firm in McLean, Va.
“It is in the best interest of the 20,000 Marines in Iraq for them to be absolutely informed at the soonest opportunity of the specific advances in survivability, weight and mobility that they’re going to be equipped with,” he said.
Protective Products’ program manager for the MTV, Skip Church, declined to comment on his company’s winning design, saying SysCom had requested that all inquiries about the product be directed through its office.
Marine officials have said they hope to start producing a 60,000-vest order in October, fielding them to units as they deploy to Iraq early next year.
Marines have complained of discomfort and lack of mobility with the current vest, which has steadily become heavier with the addition of more robust protective plates. The vest contains pockets on the front, back and sides that hold heavy ceramic Small Arms Protective Insert plates to protect different regions of the torso.
This year, the Corps began replacing those plates with heavier ones, called Enhanced-SAPIs, which offer even better ballistic protection.
Yet as the protection increases, so does the weight. And SysCom officials have previously acknowledged that the OTV is reaching the limits of what it was designed to carry.
The MTV is designed with that increased load in mind and also offers: increased areas of protection in the side torso, lower back and shoulder areas; quick-release capability; improved vest design for closure; and integrated routing for communications wiring.
The new vest will not come with new plates. It will use the existing E-SAPI plates from the OTV.
Ellie