Gruntworks shows off new Marine body armor with lighter plates, more fits

So here are Marine Corps Base Quantico at the Marine Corps Systems Command Grunt Works

That's because the Marines are developing new and fielding new sizes and types of body armor and

plate carriers. That's important because when you're in the battlefield, one shot can make a big difference

So Gunnar Hutchison, I understand we have a new plate carrier for the Marines, different sizes and different ways of putting it together

Can you tell us a little bit about what the Marines had before and what they have now? Yeah, of course. So before we had the PC Gen 2 and it come in your standard sizes that was out there

And then recently we moved up to PC Gen 3. This is what we have listed back here

So the PC Gen 3 is interesting because modular incense. So going from, you know, full setup as you see here, or it can go down to a slicker setup as you see here

One of the additions that went to it is we got away from the standard, you know, small, medium, large, extra large plates

and we started getting into more of the ergonomics of the plates that fit the actual individual

So meeting, you know, from one scale all the way to the other scale so that we capture actually more of the sizes and more of the actual fit of the person

Now, it might seem obvious to someone who's used body armor, but for someone who's not, why is the fit so important

Yeah, so the fit's an important thing because, you know, efficiency, movement, all the things that we go into

So when you have something generally that doesn't fit you properly, it takes a lot of energy out of you

So when we start getting things that, you know, fit your body more in a form factor, more form fit

then you actually save, you know, your energy, your endurance as you're going because that's one less thing that you're fighting

You know, you have something that fits properly and it fits to your body the right way. So now that's one less thing that you have to continue to worry about in the sense of, you know, one thing eaten away from energy on the missions that you go out on

Now, some people might say, well, this looks a lot smaller than what you've seen before. Back in the past, we had like much larger body armor

So how does this provide the protection you need, even though it's a smaller form

Yeah, great question. So a lot of science has went into this. So when they look at these things you know when they break it down as you can see in the plates that we have here for the vital parts the vital organs We tried to slim it down in a sense that one it covers all the things that are necessary

And the amount of research and, you know, technology that's went into this is not the plates of old

You know, where we're at today, it's fitting the things that we need as we have laid out here

as well as making it modular in the sense that it fits, you know, in the most ergonomical means necessary for the individual user

And I couldn't talk about body armor without talking about weight. So obviously carrying a lot of weight back in the past, things have gotten lighter over time

Can you tell us about the difference in weight and feel, I guess, between the Gen 2 and the Gen 3

Yeah, so weight is always a big thing. When you go out, especially on your missions, you're walking around with this for long periods of time

Ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain mindset. So just by going with the laser-cut technology that we have in the vests, the ones before in the PC Gen 2

it was the weaving that was stitched on, the fabric was all stitched on. So by taking that out and actually laser cutting into the vest, we've been able to shave weight most optimal

So Gunnar, can we go over and take a look at what the PC2 and the PC3 look like side by side

Yeah, of course. Awesome. All right, so what's new and different about this right now

All right, so as you can see, the first feature is all of the weaving is off all the stitching, and it's laser cut

So it still has the attachment points for all of your accessories

Grenade pouches, magazine pouches, first aid kits are all there. But what they found through research is shaving or taking the webbing off and laser cutting it saves 25% in weight reduction

So going from that to this is pretty substantial. So when you look, some of the added changes, you still have the quick connects up here

And now you have these releases on either side as opposed to the pull cord that was just on the one side of the PC Gen 2

Configuration, the differences between this one and that one is this one is a full setup, which then can break all the way down to a setup similar to this

The advantages of all of the setups in the modularity is you still maintain the soft armor protection as well as the sappy protection that's needed

One of the things that we see is when you transition people will ask the question well what about the armor level protection The armor level protection remains the same throughout all of the configurations of this one because you still maintain the soft armor inside and you still maintain the sappies

What kind of feedback have you been getting so far from Marines who've been able to use the new vest? Yeah, so, so far the new vest consists in our infantry and infantry-like, as well as our infantry schoolhouses

and the feedback has been extremely well. Everyone seems to like the modularity of it

Everyone seems to like the new plates that go into it that are more ergonomic for the individual user

You know, the days of the past of one size fits most, we're going with that

You know, as we continue to shape and modernize, we're getting things that are specifically fitted to the individual

So when they go to the issue facility, they're sized and they're matched up for the proper gear that they need by individuals

So, as they go through in the past, you sort of had the standard setups of the small, medium, large, extra large

And if you were in between, you just sort of had to pull in which one fit better

Hey, Gunnar, thanks. This has been super interesting. We're going to go find out a little bit more about how it's been engineered

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. Trevor, thanks for joining us

Could you tell us a little bit about your role in developing this plate carrier? Yes, I'm an engineer for the individual armored team

And so we've had plate carriers before, but what went into developing this particular design

Yeah, so one of the things we have to talk about with any design of our equipment is that we designed a requirement

So it's not just us sitting down with good ideas. It's all requirement-based

And so the PC Gen 3, we have significant weight reduction that offers a wider range of sizes to better fit all Marines

So I know they're all different sizes, so a little bit different weights. But on average, how much did the previous plate carrier weigh and how much does it weigh now

Yeah, so the PC Gen 3 reduces weight by about 25% from the Legacy Play carrier

So it was about 8.5 pounds for the size medium and Legacy, and it's 6.5 pounds now for a size medium

And I understand design-wise, there were some design features that you guys worked on

What did you guys have to develop to make those changes? Yeah, so one of the ways we were able to decrease weight is by using lighter weight materials

So we have the laser cut you can see for using for the PALs which is where you attach your pouches And then one of the biggest advances has been soft armor We have a lot better soft armor technology in this vest which has led to that decrease in weight Even since the initial fielding of the PC Gen 3 we already made some

some minor changes to it from feedback we've received from Marines. Some of the

things that we were seeing is that we were having some durability issues with the tubes on the side that we're pulling out. We've had issues with slide fastener

underneath where the plate goes in and then some other issues with the hook and loop fastener

which is how everything attaches. So what we were able to do is through engineering change proposals

we were able to make some adjustments and we fix those problems now. So the plate carrier doesn't

just stand alone. A Marine doesn't go into combat or training just carrying a plate carrier. There

are other parts of the system. Can you talk about any change that might have been made to those pieces of the system? Sure, yeah. So it goes back to the requirements that I was talking about before

and in 2016 we received a new fit attribute requirement and this means that we have to now

fit the second percentile female to the 98th percentile male marine. Previously it was just

the 5th to 95th marine so now we have those new fit attributes and which means we need some smaller

sizes to fit the entire population of the Marine Corps. So since the USMC pack was developed prior

to 2016 we needed to come up with some new sizes in order to fit that smaller population of Marines

So we came up with the short shoulder harness and the small hip belt and this is able to better fit those short torso smaller statured Marines

So the different kind of size of statured Marines have different options for fitting the gear not only the plates themselves but also the gear that kind of connects to it

Correct yeah so something that's very important with the pack is actually how the shoulder harness fits and the torso length of the person that's wearing it

So you want it to be able to sit on all the weight to be able to sit on your hips. And by having a short shoulder harness, we're able to move that hip belt onto the hips where it best is able to support that load

Did some of that development come from Marines using and testing the gear? Yes, absolutely

Yeah, we were finding that they weren't able to have the hip belt in the correct place on their hips in order to best support that load they were carrying

So this is what led to the development of the short shoulder harness and the small hip belt

And they're now at the issue facilities for Marines to go and pick up. So we've seen a lot about the plate carrier generation 3 and for more, tune in at militarytimes.com