Plate carrier fielding effort in limbo - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Plate carrier fielding effort in limbo

Soldiers who were waiting for the Army to begin fielding a new, lightweight armor plate carrier in August have some more waiting to do.

Program Executive Office Soldier officials said in May that fielding a plate carrier — as an alternative to the current Improved Outer Tactical Vest — is its “No. 1 priority.” Body armor officials planned to select and begin fielding in August the first of 100,000 plate carriers to combat soldiers fighting in extreme conditions such as the mountains of Afghanistan.

Since then, the status of the effort remains unclear. As of Aug. 28, the plate carriers had not been fielded.

PEO Soldier officials declined to estimate when the Army will select a new plate carrier or when it might be fielded. The Army also declined to explain the status of the program despite repeated requests from Army Times.

Instead, Army officials maintain that the senior leadership is currently reviewing the requirement for a new plate carrier.

“The Army validated the need for a lightweight alternative body armor solution for soldiers operating in specific mission-sets within the Afghanistan theater of operations,” Army spokesman Maj. Jimmie Cummings said in an Aug. 28 statement. “The effort to identify, resource and procure the best possible lightweight alternative body armor continues to move forward and will result in initial fielding in the most expeditious timeline possible.”

Army equipment officials unveiled four plate carriers at a May 6 media event that they planned to have soldiers evaluate in a soldier protection demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., later that month. The plate carriers were made by Eagle Industries, KDH Defense Systems Inc., MSA Paraclete and Tactical Assault Gear.

The four plate carrier companies were chosen from a request for information the service put out to industry in January. The Army required each of the initial 16 vendors to submit a plate carrier that featured a quick release for emergency egress, removable side plate carriers and at least one inch of soft armor overlapping all four plates.

The plate carrier effort came as the Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group and other Army commands prepared to conduct a battlefield assessment late this summer, which is now underway, to find ways to reduce the heavy loads soldiers now shoulder in the mountains of Afghanistan. Operating on foot in the country’s extreme terrain, soldiers often struggle with loads as heavy as 130 pounds.

For that assessment, a battalion from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was issued specially selected, ultralight combat gear — which includes plate carriers, lighter packs and boots before it deployed to Afghanistan in July.

With the help of Johns Hopkins University, the assessment team — now in Afghanistan — will try to show the effects of reducing soldiers’ equipment weight by 20 pounds.

As part of the assessment, about 500 soldiers from 4-4 are wearing the Eagle Industries Modular Body Armor Vest, a plate carrier that’s about 14 pounds lighter than the Army’s IOTV, which averages up to 30 pounds with all of its soft armor attachments.

The MBAV plate carrier is standard issue to Special Operations Command units such as the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Marine Corps has been using another Eagle-designed plate carrier in Afghanistan since 2008.

In addition, the Corps just awarded a $20 million contract to Eagle for a new Scalable Plate Carrier, according to an Aug. 17 press release from ATK, Eagle’s parent company.

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