News Review: New combat armour for Australian soldiers | ADM Mar 2011

The first batch of the new Tiered Body Armour System (TBAS) for Australian soldiers in Afghanistan come off the Australian Defence Apparel (ADA) production line in Bendigo in January. The company’s $4.7 million contract to supply over 1,600 sets of TBAS will create an extra 50 local jobs, according to minister for defence materiel Jason Clare.

“The new body armour system is lighter, fits better, is more comfortable and provides more mobility than the existing body armour our troops use,” Clare said. “At the moment our soldiers in Afghanistan wear either the Modular Combat Body Armour System (MCBAS) or the Eagle Marine body armour. MCBAS body armour is very effective, but it’s heavy. It was designed for conditions in Iraq where troops weren’t regularly required to patrol on foot.”

The TBAS was designed on the basis of feedback from Australian troops, and been tested and evaluated by Special Forces, Navy clearance divers and regular Army soldiers, Clare said. It incorporates vests, soft armour plates, hard inserts and pouches.

“In Afghanistan the feedback from troops was [MCBAS] made it difficult to move around and do their job, so Defence made an urgent purchase of the lighter Eagle Marine body armour last year from the US.

“The new TBAS is lighter than both. It integrates better with their combat equipment and provides much greater freedom of movement, especially around their shoulders. This enables soldiers to get into better firing positions and manoeuvre more freely on the battlefield.

“It also allows troops to insert different types of ballistic plates in the vest depending on their mission. Because it is Australian-made and we own the design we can also make adjustments and improvements at any time to suit the needs of our troops. ADA will produce around 1,600 tiered body armour systems over the next few months.”

Soldiers from Mentoring Task Force 3 will train in this body armour in April as part of their Mission Rehearsal Exercises and deploy with it when they head to Afghanistan later this year, said Clare.

ADA will also manufacture the new ‘Multicam’ uniform which will be issued to Australian troops in Afghanistan following Clare’s announcement at the Land Warfare Conference in November. The initial batch of uniforms will be sourced as a matter of urgency from the US with deliveries due in early 2011 to equip over 800 soldiers; subsequent batches will be from ADA, it is understood.

“I have also instructed the DMO to pursue the purchase of a licence to provide for the potential manufacture of this uniform in Australia if the extended trial is successful,” Clare said at the LWC.

The Multicam uniform, which is also used by US and British forces, was trialled by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan for 12 months and found to offer improved concealment and comfort. Based on their feedback, the trial has been extended for a further 12 months to all Australian troops operating ‘outside the wire’ in Afghanistan, affording them the same camouflage as their allies and Australian Special Forces.

“Special Forces soldiers have said this is the uniform they want to wear,” Clare said at the LWC in Brisbane. “The camouflage pattern provides troops with greater levels of concealment across the range of terrains in Afghanistan – urban, desert and green.”

The Multicam shirt and trousers have elbow and knee pads built in to reduce soft tissue injuries; are cooler and designed to be worn under body armour; have a padded waist band to make it more comfortable under webbing or a field pack; and have more pockets and a stretch fabric at the joints. This could be the basis of a new generation combat uniform design for the ADF, Clare said at LWC.

“We’ve been doing a piece of work developing a midpoint camouflage design here in Australia. I’ve asked Defence to now merge that project with the licence purchasing project, so that we can expedite the development of a new, next-generation combat uniform in Australia.

“I want the flexibility to be able to adapt it to have a unique Australian camouflage design and to be able to manufacture it long-term here in Australia.”