The U.S. Army decided to re-purpose legacy body armor vest into the newly-designed Modular Scalable Vest configuration, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The contract, from U.S. Army Contracting Command and announced on Friday, is valued at more than $24 million and covers re-purpose to new body armor configuration, the Modular Scalable Vest (MSV). The U.S. Army taps SourceAmerica company from Vienna for this works.
“Work will be performed in Lansing, Michigan; Miami, Florida; and Austin, Texas, with an estimated completion date of June, 30, 2020,” said in a statement.
According to the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center’s website, the MSV is part of the Soldier Protection System (SPS) and is the Army’s next-generation Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) system. The SPS is a modular, scalable, tailorable system designed to defeat current threats at a reduced weight in comparison to the Army’s existing PPE.
The MSV weighs approximately 11-pounds, based on a medium size vest without ballistic plates. Fully configured, the MSV weighs approximately 25-pounds, which is five pounds lighter than the Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV).
In addition to saving weight, the MSV is scalable, which was made possible by a four-tier configuration. The tier system will allow the wearer to tailor the vest to better fit mission requirements.
The MSV retained the quick-release feature first used in the IOTV to allow for easy removal in emergency situations, but with a simpler and interchangeable design. Instead of a single pull-tab, the MSV has a buckle system that can be used in one of three ways; left shoulder, right shoulder, or both depending on the wearer’s preference.
Extended sizing options allow the MSV to be tailorable and more accommodating to most Soldier body types.