We posted a story a while back on a new combat pant the Army was spinning off as part of its look into better fire resistant ACUs. Thanks to our friends at Soldier Systems we got some good gouge on the development, but I'm here to update you on the latest fielding schedule.
In our long conversation Dec. 18, Lt. Col. Mike Sloane of PEO Soldier told Defense Tech that the lucky testers will be a brigade from the 101st Airborne heading to Afghanistan next month. PEO plans to issue 7,000 pairs of the combat pant, which incorporates stretchy fabric, integrated knee pads and FR fabric that's more durable than the FR Rayon in today's FR-ACU.
And it's made by guess who? The Army's new uniform darlings (and the Brits), Crye Precision. The above photo is from Crye's Web site.
I went ahead and made an audio clip of this part of our interview for your listening pleasure. Mike Sloane can explain the whole evolution better than I can. But suffice it to say, some very happy airborne troopers are going into the zone with some pretty high-tech duds.
-- Christian
