If you follow Blue Force Gear’s Facebook Page, you have no doubt seen the periodic Blue Force Gear Spotted pictures. These are pictures from various places around the industry, training courses, etc. where a BFG product can be seen in the picture. Maybe you have even had your BFG spotted.
Blue Force Gear was handing out these nifty SPOTTED! patches at the SHOT Show this year.
Helium Whisper technology continues on its march toward MOLLE domination:
SAVANNAH, GA—February 19, 2012—Blue Force Gear® announced today that they will provide their weight-slashing Helium Whisper™ pouch attachment system to Mayflower Research & Consulting. Mayflower joins the growing number of adoptees for Blue Force Gear’s Patent pending Helium Whisper and this technology will enhance the products they currently provide to elite users. Mayflower anticipates full stock of their pouches with Helium Whisper backers in approximately 45 days.
“Mayflower Research & Consulting is proud to be working with Blue Force Gear moving forward with a great addition to our product lineup. Blue Force Gear has made a giant leap forward in removing weight off of the warfighter’s back and we see it as a natural compliment to our philosophy of building products for the military athlete,” said Travis Rolph, Mayflower’s CEO.
“Quiet professionals know Mayflower to be a forward-thinking company and we have the highest respect for Travis and his team,” said Ashley Burnsed, Blue Force Gear’s CEO. “We look forward to helping them improve the comfort, speed, and survivability of their customers with Helium Whisper.”
Helium Whisper allows modular pouch backs to be constructed from a single piece of high-performance laminate versus the multiple straps and snaps of outdated designs. This amazing breakthrough increases strength and durability of pouches while eliminating failure points and reducing weight by up to 60 percent. Helium Whisper licensing allows OEM customers to reduce sewing costs, minimize alignment errors, maintain or increase durability, and stay relevant to today’s weight-conscious military customers.
About Blue Force Gear, Inc.
Blue Force Gear® designs the best weapon slings and leads the lightweight equipment revolution with its Ten-Speed™ multi-use pouches. They also reinvented MOLLE to be the world’s lightest with their revolutionary MOLLEminus™ technology and Helium Whisper™ pouch attachment system. Unrivaled innovation and attention to detail set Blue Force Gear apart from others in the tactical equipment industry.
Press Contact:
Brittney DeVane
Blue Force Gear
brittney@blueforcegear.com
(877) 430-2583Licensing Contact:
Dawn West
Blue Force Gear
dwest@blueforcegear.com
(877) 430-2583
Blue Force Gear, Ten-Speed, Helium Whisper, and MOLLEminus are trademarks of Blue Force Gear, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Visit BlueForceGear.com and Mayflower-RC.org
Blue Force Gear made waves at the SHOT Show with a handful of announcements including the release of the Hive Satchel. The Hive Satchel drew a crowd in part because it is unlike anything else that is available right now and in part because Chris Costa, a collaborator on the pack, was on hand to demo the pack.
The Hive Satchel is a compact pack that is designed to discreetly carry smaller PDW type weapons. Its lacks external indicators of its purpose like PALS webbing and has a non-typical shape that keeps its contents discreet. The interior is lined with loop Velcro for use with the excellent Blue Force Gear Dappers.
It seems that people are often slow to accept lightweight gear because there is a perception that as weight decreases, durability decreases along with it. The Blue Force Gear MOLLEminus concept is challenging that preconceived notion. The chest rigs that they make, utilizing their MOLLEminus technology, the RACKminus and the new SPLITminus, show that it is possible to make gear that is lighter and stronger than most traditionally manufactured gear with modern materials and clever application of technology.
In this review, I’ll take a look at the newer of the two MOLLEminus chest rigs – the SPLITminus.
At its simplest, the SPLITminus is a MOLLE compatible, split-front chest rig. A MOLLE compatible, split-front chest rig is nothing revolutionary, but a MOLLE compatible, split-front chest rig that weighs only 250 grams is almost certainly revolutionary.
While some companies make their gear more durable by adding material, seams, and various reinforcements, the Blue Force Gear MOLLEminus concept makes gear stronger by removing material, stitches, and reducing the need for reinforcements. The main body of the SPLITminus consists of only 2 pieces of fabric – one for the left side of the split-front design and one for the right.
The body of the SPLITminus and the shoulder straps are made from a proprietary material called ULTRAcomp. It feels similar to materials you might know like Hypalon, but ULTRAcomp also has a thin layer of nylon fabric laminated to one side. This laminated layer allows BFG to produce ULTRAcomp in various colors and camo prints. This material is the key to the light weight but high durability of the MOLLEminus concept. Rather than sewing webbing to the chest rig to serve as the attachment grid, BFG laser cuts the ULTRAcomp with a series of slots and voids to create a matrix that will accept any MOLLE pouch.
The shoulder harness is in the “H” configuration. The shoulder straps are also cut from ULTRAcomp with a series of voids that allow the attachment of single column MOLLE pouches or routing of comm wires or hydration tubes. The ULTRAcomp is backed with mesh to allow the harness to breathe.
As with any split-front chest rig, the SPLITminus is extremely easy to don and doff. You just pull it on and off like a vest. Some users also like to unbuckle the front of a split-front chest rig if they are going prone for extended periods.
You can’t help but be impressed with a chest rig that has a total of 12 columns and 3 rows of MOLLE real estate but only 10 bar tacks on the body of the chest rig. That is the extent of the sewing that is necessary in the construction of this rig. These stitches are all limited to where the body of the chest rig is attached to the split-front buckles or the shoulder harness. No stitches are needed to create the MOLLE grid. A similar, traditionally constructed chest rig would have at least 52 bar tacks and/or seams just to create the MOLLE fields and join the rig to its harness and buckles. That doesn’t even take into account for the fact that a similar rig would likely need other stitching to construct the backing for attaching the MOLLE fields. Amazing.
The ULTRAcomp material itself is ridiculously hard to tear and BFG is careful to use rounded cuts on all slots and voids to avoid creating a stress point. If you think of every stitch is a potential failure point, then the MOLLEminus chest rigs are potentially some of the most failure resistant gear ever made. The properties of the material coupled with the construction method should make this an extremely durable chest rig. Of course, only time (and lots of it) will be the true judge of this.
The ULTRAcomp material’s backing has a rubberized texture to it and I was concerned that it wouldn’t breathe well. However, I found that with all the voids and air space in the SPLITminus (even with pouches installed), it breathes at least as well, if not better, than a traditionally constructed chest rig.
The SPLITminus’ harness is very well executed. It is hard to appreciate until you have some weight on the rig. In fact, the SPLITminus is so lightweight that it feels strange when unloaded. The harness is comfortable and the ULTRAcomp over mesh construction allows it to breathe well and offer a lot of functionality (MOLLE compatible, tube and wire routing). It is not adjustable for width and does seem run a bit wider than some harness so those with narrow shoulders may want to try one before buying.
The comfortable harness and split-front design play a large part in how well the SPLITminus scales up or down. I tried the rig in various configurations that ranged from fairly slick to more of a heavier load-bearing type setup. I tried it first with just 2 Ten-Speed Double M4 Mag Pouches and a Ten-Speed Double Pistol Mag Pouch. This set up was nearly flat when empty and weighed only 386 grams (0.85 pounds). Then, I tried with 4 Helium Whisper Double M4 Mag Pouches and a Helium Whisper Trauma Kit NOW!. This set up allowed the SPLITminus to carry a total of 8 mags and a well-organized trauma kit and weighs only 672 grams (1.48 pounds). The SPLITminus felt fine with either set up.
I should say that the very flexible SPLITminus in combination with the very flexible MOLLE straps on the BFG pouches with the Helium Whisper backing can make attaching the pouches to the SPLITminus very tedious. It isn’t that it’s hard to do. It’s just that it seems to take forever. This is a worthwhile trade-off for the light weight of the entire system.
I can’t help but wonder what is next for BFG’s MOLLEminus concept. I would love to see something like a cummerbund for their LMAC or maybe even a somewhat universal cummerbund that could be fit to other plate carriers. Now that BFG has released the RACKminus and SPLITminus, I would love to see the MICROminus (I won’t even charge royalties for the name) – a compact chest rig with just 6 or 9 columns of MOLLE real estate and the ability to integrate into plate carriers like the RACKminus. These are just the obvious ideas. I can’t imagine all of the cool stuff that BFG will come up with.
The SPLITminus isn’t just another split-front chest rig. I think it may be a crystal ball that lets us peer into the future. Lighter gear is only better if it is also durable enough to get the job done. Blue Force Gear has managed to make their gear lighter and theoretically more durable than traditionally constructed gear.
Nearly all of my slings have an IWC 2 to 1 Point Triglide installed on them. I could have saved myself some trouble in money if these sling combos from IWC had been around.
The combos are available for the Blue Force Gear Victory VCAS, Padded VCAS, Standard VCAS, and Viking Tactics VTAC Sling. They each include a sling of your choice, 2 QD sling swivels, and an IWC 2 to 1 Point Triglide.
Check out the new Sling Combos on ImpactWeaponsComponents.com. Remember to use the discount code “triggerjerk” for 5% off at ImpactWeaponsComponents.com.
