Marines show off body armor with lighter vest, plates and more sizes

So we're here on 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 Gunner Hutchison, I understand we have a new plate carrier for the Marines, different

sizes and different ways of putting it together. Tell us a little 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 it's modular incense. So going from 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 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 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, you know, 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've tried to slim it down in a sense that, one, it covers all the things that are necessary

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

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 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 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 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 vest

you know, 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 and 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 have 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 you know 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 you

know proper gear that they need by individuals so you know as they go through in the past it's

you sort of had the 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 pretty 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 an engineer for the individual armor team And so we 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 Gen3 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 plate 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 are 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've already made 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 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 fixed 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

under 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, 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 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 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. Well, thanks so much for talking with us, Trevor

We're going to find out a little bit more about how those plates are developed and designed. So Bridget, we've talked a lot about the plate carriers, but I'd like to know a little bit more about the plates themselves

Could you tell me a little bit about these? Yeah, so we have three new plate sizes. We have the extra small short

We have the small short and the small long sizes. And the reason we created these three new sizes is to accommodate for the second percentile female to 98th percentile male Marine

And these also fit the shorter and smaller stature Marines. In addition to these new plate sizes, we also have two different types of hard armor plates

We have the ESAPI plate right here, which is currently being used right now

And then these are the new lightweight plates that are currently being filled in as well

A lot lighter. So not only is the plate carrier lighter, the plates themselves are a little bit lighter. Tell us a little bit about that

Yeah, so the lightweight plates are 33% lighter than our current ESAPI plates

And this increases mobility about 8%, which increases survivability as well. Well, the plate is probably the most important part of the plate carrier

So thanks for explaining this to us. We're going to go see some Marines actually wearing and moving around these in this new gear. Awesome

So here at my feet I have the PC Gen 2, and these two Marines have the PC Gen 3

I'm going to don this gear, and then they're going to don that, and you can see the difference in how you put it on and take it off

I'm walking through here putting this Velcro around my belly. Don't look too close to the belly

So they're just going to throw this right over their head, take the cummerbund, attach

it to the slots, either up or down, slides right in, and they're ready to go

So you've seen how we put it on, but now in an emergency to take it off there are two different methods, one for this old version and then one for a new version

You're going to unclip here and then pull hard, out and it falls

Marines do you mind showing us how yours come off? We've seen a lot about the plate carrier generation 3 and for more tune in at MilitaryTimes.com