The Army is set to field a new combat backpack that meets the emerging needs of Soldiers fighting in the steep terrain and remote outposts of Afghanistan.
The so-called “medium ruck” uses technology from today’s mountaineering equipment and tactical packs and combines it with the specific needs of Soldiers doing rotations of up to three days at observation posts, long patrols or helicopter assaults where a trip back to the forward operating base may not happen for up to 72 hours.
The new 3,000 cubic inch-capacity backpack will offer Joes a better option for missions that don’t require the 5,000 cubic inch-capacity modular lightweight load bearing equipment, or MOLLE, ruck or the 2,000 cubic inch “assault pack.”
“We talked to the Infantry Center and they were starting to get some rumblings about needing something in between for Afghanistan,” said Lt. Col. Mike Sloane, the product manager for Soldier clothing and individual equipment with PEO Soldier. “Before, a lot of those missions were being conducted by special operations forces and certain light units that had specialized equipment. But now you’re having some of the ‘Big Army’ moving in and they need something to accommodate this capability gap.”
Officials at PEO Soldier told Military.com in a wide-ranging interview at their Fort Belvoir, Va., headquarters that the service’s equipment engineers began looking into developing a mid-range pack in February after talking to Joes from the 173rd Airborne Brigade who said they had a “void to fill” when it came to carrying their loads into combat.
News of the new pack comes on the heels of comments from senior Pentagon leadership, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, that some of the Army’s current equipment may not be suitable for Afghanistan and could be contributing to Soldier fatigue and injuries.
“In Iraq, people weren’t carrying a lot of rucksacks, they were carried on the vehicle,” said John Kirk, the lead engineer for MOLLE systems at Natick Soldier Systems Center, Mass. “But now [in Afghanistan] they’re carrying a lot of loads on their back and the MOLLE large is a little bit too big.”
Natick later surveyed a “focus group” of 17 Soldiers from the 173rd and asked them to show engineers the packs they used most in combat. Natick officials were stunned to see that out of 17 packs displayed only two used the MOLLE, and the remaining 15 were made by 11 different manufacturers.
“It wasn’t even like we could say ‘this particular brand A meets their needs,’ ” Kirk said.
So Natick engineers set to work on putting together the perfect midsized ruck – call it the Af-Pack – that combined some of the most appealing features of the commercial packs Soldiers actually used and matched them with emerging requirements coming from the infantry gurus at Fort Benning, Ga.
Three prototypes have been developed so far, but engineers have yet to settle on a particular frame to help stabilize the pack’s load. The medium ruck will have two separate horizontally-aligned pockets on the front, each with separate pockets and dividers inside. The sides of the pack sport MOLLE webbing to accommodate add-on pouches and accessories and the bulk of the pack is comprised of one main, top-loading compartment.
Engineers are still evaluating whether the pack should have a hybrid suspension system that uses a rigid backing – one that is just foam and another that actually has a cavity built into it to fit better on a combat-loaded Soldier.
“We’re trying to look at being compatible with that rear plate of the body armor,” Kirk said. “The rear plate needs to be cradled in this suspension system.”
Engineers want to deploy the three prototypes to the 173rd in Afghanistan for testing and select a final design by the fall of 2010, Sloane said. He’s working with the Infantry Center to finalize a requirement for the pack and if all comes together, Joes could see their new pack before next winter.
“With the recent concern about this gap, we said ‘hey, we’ve got this solution’ and so we’re looking to accelerate the evaluation of these rucksacks,” Sloane said.
And if everything comes together like officials hope, “we may be able to pull a couple months out of there,” Sloane added.
– Christian
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
What they should do is make the bag, and then sell it retail and see what the outdoor community has to say about it. Probably cheaper than going through years of "testing" under "simulated" conditions.
Good Evening Folks,
This is another area that the Army is very lacking in. The civilian market for the past forty years have had superior load carrying gear and outdoor equipment to what the Army/Marines are issued. Little things like small back packing stoves, light and compact cook sets, small folding knives, multi tools, socks and shoe inserts, etc. they just never seem to get around to these things.
There is no need for DARPA to test this stuff, just contract out and get it to the troops.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
you guys suck, deal with what you have, nothing NEW needs to be made, freaking crybabies……..
Why don't we use WWII fatigues and M1 Garands, or for that matter Brodie helmets and Springfields?
idiot.go and read a comic book
Are you kidding!!! I really hope so. If we on this side of the pond can make life a little easier for those guys over there I'm all for it!!
If you think they are "crybabies" so much why don't you go throw on 60, 70, 80 pounds of gear and hike up and down mountians for 10 hours a day at 15,000 feet and then come back and talk to me. Until then SHUT UP and be thankful they are there!
You, baby radley suck. Your mama's calling. Run on home. Your diaper needs changing. Don't be talking trash here, this is my house.
I think that a 2,495.53 cubic inch backpack would be a better choice. Provided of course that has the right kind of camouflage.
This backpack would be easier for the US heroes to throw off when they are in their full panic retreat mode.
The mighty US military shouldn't be diddling around with " war winning " backpacks, rather, it should be packing back to the USA.
We need to pack you in a body bag ;)~
What is your problem? Sorry that you feel so insignificant that you have to bag on real adults trying to do their job.
Which piss poor 3rd world country do you live?
You are probably one of those slackers living on the dole having never done anything productive in you life.
Mystery ranch makes some decent military packs. Though I'm not familiar with the requirements the troops have, I do know a good backpack makes a huge difference especially when you carry 40-60 lbs all day long.
http://www.mysteryranch.com/s.nl/c.999464/sc.7/.f
Good Morning Folks,
Disregarding the smart a**es here, there is an example of a solution to this problem in WWII gear that the Infantry carried and it is the M-1936 Mussett Bag. I don’t know it Cu./In. capacity, I don’t think they worried about things like that in WWII but it held the essentials of life, shaving gear, poncho, some writing material, mess kit, a few small souvenirs. Legs and Bird Sh** wore them on their backs, Armored Infantry attached them to a rail on the back, never on the sides they would get ripped off physically in close quarters, of their M-2/M-3 Half Tracks.
No big secret here, the Infantry hates carrying any back pack, and will willingly discard any items they consider useless, of marginal value, over packaged rations, mess kits, protective masks, etc.
If the crews from the Natick Soldiers Systems Center and The Infantry Center who spent all this time, money and energy researching this issue, would have went over to the Post Exchange at any of they major deployment base Army or Marine they would have seem several variations and brands of these in all the various cammo. patterns, along with matching camel back bladder covers, fanny packs etc. watch what the guys/gals were buying and go with it.
Interestingly this was done a while back with GPS receivers. The issue rig by Raytheon was way to heavy and hard to use in the field. Somebody got the bright idea of tracking the sales on the Post Exchange of GPS’s being purchased by deploying troops and the military discovered a commercial unit that was very popular and did everything the issue GPS could do on AA batteries. The supply chain contracted out for the commercial, (can’t name vendor, sorry), that sells for $209.00 retail at the exchange or $156.51 on Amazon, GPS unit, and is now issuing it to the troops with proprietary micro SD cards for the combat zones.
This Story is a good example of these agencies reinventing the wheel. If they would be employing men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of those who didn’t have time to serve this problem would have been solved years ago and in less then a day.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
It's about time we considered fielding a 'middle option'. The monster ruck is too big for many needs, and the assault pack is too small for others. I recently returned a month ago from OIF deployment and saw many Joes strapping their running shoes, jackets, other gear etc clumsily on the outside of the assault pack. The monster ruck is so huge and unwieldy. It has a place and I used mine at times, but it was too large for many applications.
Other posters are correct: I saw a number of smart civ market 'medium' packs being used by Joes who either bought them themselves or their unit bought it for them in an unconventional way.
The assault pack is too small to carry most laptops as well as gear. The massive ruck can carry it nicely cushioned in the middle of your several days worth of clothing. In these times, your laptop is a vital piece of your personal gear while deployed: your key to commo with home and the world, movies, music, gaming, etc. Too many Joes were carrying their laptop case, weapon, assault pack with crap strapped all over it.
The medium option will allow them to put everything into the pack, and hands free for weapon.
I think that a medium sized well camouflaged large small backpack would be better than a large sized medium backpack.
The new backpack should have lots of zippers and other things attached to it so that it looks super macho, which will frighten all of the Afghans and make them run away.
With these super doper intimidating backpacks the US military won’t have to bother with carrying rifles.
The enemy will simply either drop dead from fright or surrender.
maybe you should try climbing some hills over there with a huge backpack on then maybe you will realise how important these things are
Kifaru is one of the best. Worth the price.
foncEI vcqoaqizaxnp, [url=http://mwhfylzvuatp.com/]mwhfylzvuatp[/url], [link=http://anmkbjvzytcj.com/]anmkbjvzytcj[/link], http://aywlnzyjacmr.com/