PARIS — Breitling SA, the closely held maker of luxury Swiss watches, unveiled what it billed as the first wristwatch equipped with a dual-frequency transmitter to help the pilot or adventurer signal help in an emergency.
The company in 1995 introduced customers to the first watch with a built-in personal locator beacon. Now, it has rolled out a similar but more advanced product, called the Emergency II. [click to continue…]
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EDIT: More information here on the Tac Strike Blog: http://tacstrikeblog.com/ammo-crisis-and-problems-with-quality-control/
“I know ammo is scarce, but don’t go to unreputable reloaders to save a couple of dollars. If you do and start to see malfunctions, STOP! Don’t push your luck. Bad things happen with junk. Luckily the injuries [associated with this image] were minor, but the pistol is toast.” Rob (TacStrike)
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The Army recently awarded a $35.6 million contract to HWI Gear to produce the service’s legacy Army Combat Glove. It has been hard to keep track of how many different styles of fire-resistant gloves have hit the battlefield over the last decade of war. Soldiers wear coyote brown, foliage green, sage green, black and combinations of those shades.
HWI Gear’s ACG isn’t replacing any other combat gloves, but it will be the Army’s go-to combat glove through 2017. The service could buy as many as 800,000 pairs Para-Aramid and goatskin gloves in an effort to maintain a single, sustainable design. Eight vendors competed in the competition which began in early 2011.
The Ojai, Calif.-based company has produced about 500,000 pairs of this glove for the Army over the past five years. They feature high-density foam padding over the knuckle and palm covered in goatskin leather. The FR material is 10.5 ounce Para-Aramid.
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I just shelled out $200 for a new Surefire X300. Like all Surefires, it’s a reeeaaaalllyy nice piece of kit, but I’ve been on the fence about buying one for a long time. I’ve always believed that iron sights and knowing where my friendlies are would get me through in a low-light threat scenario. That and I hate spending money I guess.
I changed my mind though after attending a Victory First Defensive Handgun Level 1 course. No, I didn’t have an earth-shaking, ah-ha moment or anything. But listening to someone like Matt Jacques, the owner of Victory First, talk about weapon lights gave me the nudge I needed.
I realize weapon lights are nothing new and have become an extremely useful tool on infantry weapons on the battlefield. But I’m not a door kicker, so what do I need a blinding, 170-lumen light for, I thought.
Before taking the Victory First course, I was pretty ignorant of the legal pitfalls that can come up if you have to use deadly force while carrying concealed.
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Defense Tech recently released their “top service inventions of 2011″ if you missed it. It took until nearly the end of 2012 to make the announcement and the “Gear Oscars” won’t be celebrated until 2013 (I won’t be moderating) but it’s still an interesting read. Their list includes:
120mm Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative Cartridge
A 120mm Global Positioning System-guided mortar cartridge that provides infantry commanders with new precision-strike capability…
Caiman Explosively Formed Penetrator Add-on-Armor Kits
An armor package that can be integrated into a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle with little modification to an existing armor package, protecting the driver and commander sides and mitigating the exposed area from explosively formed penetrators…
Helmet Sensors
A helmet sensor and data retrieval system that measure impact and pressure events continuously…
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Triple Aught Design is releasing some new SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) reflective loot for those of you who 1) need such things and 2) like TAD Gear. The new SOLAS kit features the signature TAD icon “Mean T-Skull”, as a reflective patch or sticker/decal. Both are available in OD Green, black, tan (it’s more of a wood brown, seems like) and gray. They’re 3″ in diameter.
TAD Gear's Mean-T patch
The Mean-T SOLAS patch is meant to me a survival or recognition feature and is made of SOLAS tape (3M Scotchlite Reflective Material to be exact), backed with hook-and-loop. The decal is to be used for the same purpose and is made of the same material.
TAD Gear's Mean-T SOLAS Patch
Might not be as traditional (or inexpensive) as the good ole’ ‘cat’s eyes’ we used to wear on our patrol caps (and probably not something you want to wear to a 2-way range) but for haute tactical couture you can hardly do better.
Decal: www.tripleaughtdesign.com/Equipment/Equipment-Accessories/Mean-T-Skull-SOLAS-Sticker
Patch: www.tripleaughtdesign.com/Equipment/Patches/Mean-T-Skull-SOLAS-Patch
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Chinook Medical Gear Inc. has a pretty inexpensive tourniquet pouch for gearheads, like me, who aren’t happy with a piece of kit until it has been paired with its own pouch or case. Tourniquets are a key part of any trauma kit, on the battlefield or at the range. The Universal Tourniquet Pouch is designed to fit most models on the market and can be attached to your belt or MOLLE webbing.
Chinook’s tourniquet pouch will fit the CAT, SOFT, SOFT-wide, RMT and other models. It comes in several tactical colors and costs $11.67 each.
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