Airborne Combat Engineer

Need for lighter/thinner body armor

While politicians and pundits make a lot of noise about getting the troops better body armor, the troops are asking for less, or at least lighter and less bulky, armor. Anyone who has been in combat will tell you that survival depends, first of all, on speed and mobility. Body armor helps when you do get hit, but the latest body armor often slows troops down and makes them vulnerable to hits in unarmored areas (the face, and limbs). Troops traveling in vehicles find the body armor a major obstacle to getting out quickly. This can be a matter of life and death. Another problem is fatigue and heat. The heavy armor is cumbersome, and wearing it in action wears you out more quickly.

No one, except the troops who wear the stuff, appear to realize how critical weight and bulk is.

Strategy Page

Body armor for AP rounds

The Army has issued an industry-wide request for a new kind of body armor that can defeat even more powerful rounds than the current ceramic plate and has opened the door for the new armor construction that includes flexible systems many say are more comfortable than today's vests.

The new armor insert, dubbed "XSAPI," is intended stop armor-piercing rounds more deadly than the ones the current "enhanced small arms protective insert" can defeat, will weigh less than a pound more than today's ESAPI and could have more coverage than the rigid ceramic plates currently fielded to U.S. troops in combat.

Defense Tech

Land Warrior takes a budget hit

As expected, the Army has eliminated funding for its high tech soldier ensemble, Land Warrior, in its budget for 2008. The gear -- a collection of radios, electronic maps, and next-gen rifle scopes -- was finally supposed to connect the average infantryman into the growing network for combat.  But the Army never could figure out the seemingly-endless weight and usability issues.

[Defense Tech, 06FEB07]

Two questions:

• How networked does every soldier really need to be?
• Why can't consumer devices be adapted, at a much lower cost?

New digital camo Army ACU heads to Iraq

The 48th Infantry Brigade (Mech) of the Georgia Army National Guard is heading over to Iraq this weekend.  It [reportedly] will be the first unit to wear the new ACU with digital camo.

It does appear (at least from the photo above) the final pattern has less grey and more green and brown than when it was first announced and modeled back in September. Compare the image above to the image in this article back in February.

Or, is it just the light?  Compare these two images of the same guy (presumably wearing the same ACU):

As we see more images of the 48th in Iraq, we'll learn for sure.

In any case, the advantage of digital camo is lost as the distance increases, and is insignificant beyond 100 yds. See the continuation.

BIG GREEN wants more green in ACU

One of Murdoc's readers tipped him off to a change being made in the Army's new BDU.

Per the "Camo Store" (unconfirmed by the Army):

"The camouflage pattern of the ACU has changed slightly to a darker green as requested by Department of the Army."

After all the words about how much research and testing went into the selection of the camo pattern, some higher-up appears to have decided it just didn't have enough green for Big Green.

Tell me this is not about style over substance.

A quick googling didn't turn up an official announcement of the change, BUT did find this interesting test of camo patterns against likely battleground backgrounds (something that has been lacking in the ACU announcements, most of which have someone standing in an office environment).

 

After you click on a thumbnail image, enter "mm" for both the user name and password to see the larger image, but DO NOT link directly to any images on the site. 

Note how easy it is to spot the "old" ACU pattern (before the change) against typical backgrounds. And it stands out like a sore thumb in forest backgrounds.

We'll have to fight in the woods again, one day, since there are more woods than urban areas -- still.

Since it's too costly to have different uniforms for different potential combat environments (unless you're a small outfit like the Marines), we need to accelerate the development of camelion camo, which automatically changes to match the background. Of course, it will probably require batteries.  Our troops have too much dependence on batteries already.

More on digital camo

David Crane @ Defense Review shows what Jordan has adopted, and reports what research has found.

Unsolicited (and probably unimportant) ACE opinion in the continuation

A-C-E was hit over 3900 times Sunday, thanks to a link by Michelle Malkin to one of her earlier posts in which she linked to an A-C-E post. Sadly, few linking to that post seem to stay to browse around. But, that's understandable, as this is a very right wing site dealing with topics not of interest to the general populace.

Shear tickening fluid (STF) = liquid armor

The Army is conceptualizing the military uniform of the future. While some elements seem way out, sheer tickening fluid (STF) could be in uniforms in a few years.

STF is made of equal parts polyethylene glycol – an inert, non-toxic thickening agent used in a variety of common products, like some ice creams – and miniscule glass particles, said Eric Wetzel, who heads the STF project team in the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

In a small glass vial, the light blue liquid is easily stirred with a small plastic stick – as long as the stick is moving in slow, easy motion. When sudden, rapid or forceful motion is applied, the liquid instantly hardens, preventing any movement. "When the movement is slow, the glass particles can flow around each other," Wetzel explained. "But when the movement is fast, the particles bump into each other, preventing any flow of movement." STF has been applied to regular Kevlar material, Wetzel said. The fabric's texture doesn't change; it looks and feels the same as if it hadn't been treated.

Using a test swatch of four layers of untreated Kevlar – the normal thickness of body armor – Wetzel is able to stab an ice pick through the fabric. But when stabbing a treated section of fabric with all the force he can muster, the ice pick dents the fabric but can't penetrate through.

0430Z WED 15DEC04. Military.com.

Body armor shorts

1115Z 08JUL04. CentCom.

Pvt. Luis R. Mejia helps Lance Cpl. Mike C. Suchevich put on a pair of lower body armor shorts. Both Marines are gunners with Battery L, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment. The battalion received 10 pairs of the experimental shorts, which are made from Kevlar, from the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. (USMC photo by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald)

What do you think? Protection is great, but I'd like to know what they weigh. They might make sense for gunners operating stationary positions. There is a point of diminishing returns in loading down soldiers, where all the extra weight reduces their ability to maneuver and fight against highly mobile ragheads wearing cloth shorts and carrying only AK-47s or RPGs with a few clips or rockets.