ARTICLE

February 2004

Equipment Update

Marines Look at New Combat Gear for Iraq

by Harold Kennedy

As U.S. Marines prepared to Iraq, many are flocking to military-equipment exhibitions near their bases to check out the latest weapons and gear that could make their deployment safer and more comfortable. A recent show in Quantico, Va., included these examples:

Automatic Knife
The Gerber-Emerson Alliance Automatic Knife has a folding blade that deploys with the push of a button. “It’s both a weapon and a tool,” said Ron Robley, a sales manager for Gerber Legendary Blades, of Portland, Ore. “In the military, there are a lot of uses for a knife that you can open with one hand.”

This knife comes with a 3 5/8-inch black oxide-coated blade, a pocket clip and a ballistic nylon sheath. It has ridges on the top of the handle and a checkered pattern on the side to improve the grip.

Interceptor Body Armor
Both the Army and Marines are shipping Interceptor body armor to Iraq and Afghanistan as fast as the manufacturer—Point Blank Body Armor, of Oakland Park, Fla.—can produce the gear.

The system’s outer tactical vest has a Kevlar weave that can stop 9 mm ammunition. It comes with removable throat and groin protectors and two inserts made of a boron carbide ceramic that can block a 7.62 mm round. The entire set weighs a total of 16.4 pounds, compared to 25 pounds for its predecessor.

Holographic Weapon Sight
The Holographic Weapon Sight—made by EOTech, of Ann Arbor, Mich.—is “the first electro-optic sighting system to apply holographic technology to small and medium-sized weapon platforms,” said Albert B. Rosenbaum III, a company representative.

The HWS system—which can be mounted on almost any infantry weapon—makes it easier and faster for a shooter to focus on a nighttime target, Rosenbaum said. “It makes a bad shot good and a good shot better,” he said.

Unlike active infrared laser-pointer systems, the HWS is passive, Rosenbaum said. “It emits no muzzle-side bloom, which can be detected by enemy night vision equipment.” Nor, he said, does it project a forward light or red dot on the target, which also gives away the shooter’s presence.

Combat Helmets
The Corps has contracted with the Gentex Corporation, of Carbondale, Pa., to provide a lightweight helmet for more than 200,000 Marines, including active-duty and reservists. Shipments began in July and will continue over 24 months, said Terrence Manns, soldier systems product manager for Gentex.

French manufacturer MSA/Gallet has produced a similar piece of headgear, called the Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH), for U.S. special operations forces.

Both versions offer improved protection against fragmentation and 9 mm rounds. Both have four-point chinstraps to keep them stable during movement. The two-decade-old version currently in use, known as Personal Armor System Ground Troops (PASGT), uses a two-point chinstrap, allowing it to slip and slide over the head.

The Marine helmet and the MICH are about the same weight, approximately three pounds. That’s about half a pound lighter than the PASGT, Manns said.

The Marine helmet, however, is about the same size and shape of the PASGT, which enables it to protect a larger portion of the head than the MICH, Manns said. The MICH, on the other hand, fits higher on the head, allowing a wider range of motion, according to MSA/Gallet.

The two companies now are competing for a new contract to provide more than a million helmets for conventional forces in the active-duty Army, reserves and National Guard.

Expeditionary Fire Support System
The Marine Corps is eyeing a new self-propelled 120 mm mortar, called the Expeditionary Fire Support System, which is being developed by Dallas-based Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. The EFSS consists of a Soltam 120 mm recoil mortar system, a Supacat High Mobility Transport, a weapon-control system and an enhanced tactical computer, explained Reggie Grant, Lockheed’s director of Naval Tactical Systems.

The EFSS is designed to allow Marines to fire a 120 mm mortar mounted on a weapon carrier, achieve an effect of fire that is comparable to 155 mm artillery and move quickly away, Grant said.

“We call it a ‘shoot-and-scoot’ capability,” he said. Lockheed fired a prototype of the system last August at the Marine base in 29 Palms, Calif.

Unlike heavy artillery, the EFSS can be transported inside a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter, and plans are being made to demonstrate the same capability later this year with the V-22 tilt rotor, Grant said.

The Marine Corps has declared a requirement for such a system to execute ship-to-shore maneuver, as integral part of the service’s war-fighting doctrine, Grant said. The next step, he said, is for the Marines to issue a request for proposals to build the system, followed by a contract award in the first half of the year.

Sleeping Bag
Snugpak, from the United Kingdom, makes the Softie 3 Merlin, a lightweight sleeping bag rated for use at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the firm’s U.S. representative Richard Lewis. Snugpak’s sleeping bags are used by the British Army, and they already are being sold to U.S. Army and Special Forces units, Lewis said.

“They don’t have anything as small and light as what we offer,” he asserted. “The Merlin weighs 27 ounces. It compresses smaller than a football, and it fits in the palm of your hand.”

Humvee Armor Kits
O’Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt, of Fairfield, Ohio, produces an armor kit that can be added to Army and Marine Humvees to protect occupants from small arms fire, rifle grenades and land mines. The $87 billion defense supplement bill for fiscal year 2003 contained $177 million to provide such armor for Humvees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

O’Gara’s kit provides direct protection from the 7.62 mm rounds fired by AK-47 assault rifles and indirect protection from 155 mm airbursts, according to John H. Mayles, the firm’s vice president for military programs. Armor placed on the Humvee’s floor protects against M67 grenades. The kit weighs 2,200 pounds for a four-door vehicle, 1,500 pounds for a two-door variant.

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