Manufacturers such as Spiritus Systems, Ferro Concep, and PIG have gained ground based on their product advantages. 24 Seal Team photo props.

In recent years, as the war on terrorism has entered a tug of war, the US military has withdrawn from Afghanistan. The intensity of overseas battles continues to decrease, security tasks and street fighting environments continue to increase, coupled with the rapidly growing civilian tactical shooting market, the general direction of personal protective equipment is also constantly developing towards lightweight and low visibility.

Spiritus Systems, Ferro Concep, PIG and other manufacturers have raised their eyebrows by virtue of their product advantages.

1 Garand Thumb low-key PC parent-child photos

The two-piece PC + modular chest hanger and simple girdle model are very popular among users. The main reason is that this system has the huge advantages of being lightweight and small in size, allowing users to carry the minimum necessities for the task, and is very flexible and can change the configuration at any time.

Typical products of this type include Ferro's Slickster+ elastic girdle or Spiritus' LV-119. Users can easily store and transport this vest. This is very important for patrol police and civilian shooting enthusiasts. Crye has even launched an elastic waistband used by JPC AVS in recent years.

The two-chip lightweight PC is not a novelty. This configuration existed twenty years ago, but it has only become systematic and modular in recent years. By the way, the classic representative of this type of modern lightweight vest-JPC. It has been on the market for more than ten years and still enjoys a high reputation in the market.

2 Crye elastic waistband

3 Crye elastic waistband with JPC

In addition, it needs to be reiterated that friends who do not know much about PPE generally have such a misunderstanding: lightweight vests will reduce the bulletproof effect/area.

is actually not the case. For example, when using the same size ballistic plate (such as ESAPI), whether it is IOTV, CAC, AVS or LV-119/JPC, their protection against rifle threats is exactly the same. The only difference is the IIIA lining outside the torso, and lightweight vests can also be additionally lined.

So what is the significance of the existence of large PCs?

4 Oprytel

lightweight PC using Mk4 chest mount + JPC2.0 generally has a very obvious shortcoming: the front and rear panels connected through a simple girdle have no stability at all, it just simply ties the board to the It's only on the user, and the comfort of long-term wearing is even worse. The

girdle cannot provide any support. The back panel will continue to fall during wearing, and all the pressure of the panel is exerted on the shoulders and upper waist (I mentioned this situation in the evaluation of the Titanica EDS2.0 vest ). This is especially true as the load on the vest increases.

This has little impact on patrol officers/civilians who do not need to wear high-intensity operations for a long time. But for military users who often need to travel across mountains and rivers for a whole week, it may not be satisfactory.

This is also the reason why a large number of special forces around the world choose to use AVS vests - Crye AVS relies on its unique hard carrying system (harness) to maintain structural stability, achieve the effect of dispersing pressure, reducing the burden on shoulders and waist, and greatly improving comfort. Although it is larger in size, it is still the first choice for most operators.

5 LV-119 official usage diagram, you can see the back panel is falling

6 Ferro official usage diagram, the rear panel is dropping very obviously, even if there is no mount on the rear panel

Currently, lightweight PCs are emerging in an endless stream on the market, and they are becoming lighter and more sophisticated. The smaller. Most manufacturers just copy the cat and imitate the tiger: add two zippers, and then embroider the material and detail design. There is no difference in the core structure-the board is still tied to the body by the girdle.

So how do you make your products stand out? In fact, as mentioned before, of course, we must work hard on comfort. Therefore, how to improve the comfort and stability of the vest while keeping it lightweight and low-profile has become a new level of product breakthrough.

Let’s put aside the heat dissipation performance of the vest and talk about several strategies to improve the comfort of the vest:

The first is to use soft pads on the parts that contact the body. Soft cushions can reduce pressure and increase comfort, but this method treats the symptoms rather than the root cause, and the improvement effect is limited. And because the force application point has not changed, it only delays the discomfort to a limited extent and does not solve the fundamental problem of board displacement.

The second one is to use the principle of AVS Harness to increase the structural stability of the front and rear panels and disperse the pressure. This can not only reduce the burden on the shoulders and waist, but also alleviate the problem of board drift. Ferro Concept and Crye have given their own answers around the second strategy.

7 The AVS Harness carrying system

Ferro Concept’s solution is very simple and crude – it is to replace the original elastic waistband (Adapt 3” Assault Cummerbund) with a three-inch wide carbon fiber laser-cut hard waistband.

In this way, users can directly Buying a separate girdle to upgrade an existing PC. However, I haven’t tried it yet and can’t make a final conclusion on the effect of using Velcro alone, but for Ferro, this is undoubtedly a safe and effective attempt at a new design concept. The product introduction of this girdle tells us that Ferro knows what he is doing: "Using laser cut thermo plastic we have achieved a rigid cummerbund that increases stability and weight distribution for the operator." [Improved stability and weight distribution]

8 Slickster matching The latest girdle

9 Adapt 3” Assault girdle

with structural support. Crye is even more bold and directly designed a brand new product. This is the Airlite SPC that appeared quietly last year.

Although the Airlite product line has been around for a long time, this SPC is fundamentally different from that product that has been discontinued for many years. SPC looks a lot like the love child of BFG and JPC, JPC uses laser cutting of a single layer of fabric. But I think the heart of the system is the girdle, the Airlite Structural Cummerbund.

This vest can be said to be designed for this girdle. There are so many things to like about this vest, which I will explain in detail.

Airlite SPC is not much different from JPC2.0 at first glance. In fact, there is no difference in the body structure. Its notable features are the laser-cut Airlite fabric and the extensive use of Multicam-colored Velcro like other new-generation Crye products. The waistband, shoulder straps and front and rear panel Velcro of the

vest are all printed MC Velcro.

The back of the vest has a large number of laser-cut hanging points, and the board is almost completely exposed. You need to be careful when using it. Like JPC 2.0, it has a zipper to mount the back panel. The girdle connection method is similar to JPC2.0, but there are two more rings below to hang the girdle lower. The material ratio of

Airlite is similar to BFG’s helium whisper in concept, but it is many times stiffer than the latter, while also maintaining This material is very lightweight.

10 Multicam girdle fixed Velcro

11 The laser-cut Airlite fabric completely exposes the bulletproof plate

There are rings on both sides above the front plate to fix Airlite and other chest buckles, which can be stowed away in the vest when not in use. However, Crye’s buckle position is higher than that of common chest hanger configurations such as SS and Mayflower. AXL Advanced specializes in producing adapter boards with the correct height for Crye's entire line of products.

SPC is fully compatible with the AVS front panel. It also has a dedicated Airlite material molle board. I planned to use AVS Sanlian so I didn’t buy it. There is a snap button under the front panel to prevent the panel from opening accidentally. This is the only metal accessory on the vest.

12 SPC adapter produced by AXL

13 Matched with AVS triple

14 Matched with SS Mk.4 chest hanger

The name of this girdle implies that it is a very hard girdle. In fact, it's really, really hard (melee weapon). Under the airlite fabric of the girdle is a 1.5mm thick carbon fiber support, and the front panel is even thicker. When wearing, the girdle body is inserted into the pocket on the side of the front panel, similar to AVS and CPC, which directly locks the movement of the girdle and front panel. The design of

is like a simplified version of the AVS harness, simple and effective, even stronger than the AVS link. In this way, the overall stability of the vest is greatly increased, and the front and rear panels are almost locked. After wearing it for a long time, the girdle can also support the back panel well and share the pressure, greatly improving the comfort.

As shown in the picture, with the lower girdle connection position of the rear panel, the rear panel can be kept in an ideal position.

15 There is a carbon fiber support plate sandwiched in the middle of the girdle

16 The girdle is directly inserted into the front panel to lock it

Due to the structural support of this girdle, the comfort is not affected at all by installing the side panels, and the side panels will not fall down at all but blend with the vest. As one body.

The girdle is almost lower than the board at the connection point of the back panel. The front panel can hold up the rear panel through the girdle to prevent it from sliding down. Different from the previous JPC, SPC uses two thinner elastic cords to fix the girdle, presumably to facilitate the insertion of new materials in the design. The Velcro cover on the back panel of

has also been improved, and a hole is opened below to accommodate the excess elastic cord.

17 The girdle is connected to the back panel through two elastic cords

18 The cutout on the back panel cover accommodates the elastic cord

19 SPC has no cumbersome back when worn correctly

The inside of the vest has been changed from the four-sided stretch fabric of the JPC series to a large 3D grid around it It is Multicam elastic band. This kind of grid greatly improves comfort and can dissipate heat, but after a period of use, it is found that it is easily hung up by the Velcro. I don’t know if the lifespan of the elastic band is worth worrying about.

20 The 3D grid on the inside of the front and rear panels

SPC also has another feature - the material it uses makes the SPC itself have Maritime properties, making it very suitable for amphibious operations. The

SPC material does not absorb water (the AirLite material is non-woven and non-fiber and inherently absorbs water). It is laser cut to form natural drainage holes. It will not gain weight like other vests after being soaked in water. The waistband and shoulder straps on both sides have quick-release designs. The

shoulder strap comes with a quick-release pull strap similar to the JPC E-doff. The girdle has an improved JPC 2.0 style quick-release pull tab. It is fixed with Velcro in the middle and is not easy to slip off like the JPC 2.0 pull tab. In the event of injury or falling into the water, you can use the pull tabs on either side to quickly detach the vest.

21 Velcro shoulder strap with E-doff pull ring, there is no JPC water pipe cover on the shoulder strap cover

22 Demonstration of the pull-out girdle pull ring

As you can see in the picture above, in the past, the side of the JPC front panel was used to fix it horizontally. The plastic buckles on the side panel bags have been replaced with nylon rings. SPC can use various attachment bags and side panel bags from AVS and JPC, but due to the different girdle structures. JPC's radio bag cannot be used on SPC, so Crye also developed a special radio bag through which the waistband needs to be threaded.

It is said that due to the support of the girdle, this radio bag is more comfortable than the JPC one and will not push into the side due to twisting.

23 The radio bag has a slot in the middle to allow the girdle insert to pass through.

In my limited testing time, I also found some small flaws in this vest. For example, because the fabric is very hard, the edges of the shoulder straps and girdle are wearing thin. You may feel some discomfort when putting on your clothes. The straps themselves are also not padded, so I added mesh shoulder pads from PIG. Because the webbing strip is missing on the chest of

, the hanging point of PTT and is also a problem. You need to use your brain to find the appropriate PTT position.

The edge of the girdle cannot be felt at all after hanging a bag or side panel. SPC's unique girdle structure makes it a product between AVS and JPC. It is lightweight, low-profile, structurally supported and very comfortable, but its loading capacity is not inferior to these two vests (in fact, they are exactly the same).

In fact, Bravo-5 has been wearing the SPC in the Seal Team TV series for a long time. As for whether DEVGRU is using it in reality, I have no photo evidence.

24 Seal Team Shooting props

SPC can use JPC's girdle and the elastic girdle mentioned above, but doing so will undoubtedly give up the biggest advantage of SPC. Airlite SPC completely surpasses JPC in terms of lightweight, ergonomics, comfort, etc. (well, JPC does have one more Admin pouch than it).

In addition, the SPC body is Crye’s cheapest vest currently ($169). Even with the $80 structural support girdle, the price is the same as the $240 JPC 2.0. If you don't care about some personal preferences and some detailed issues, I think JPC has even lost the need to exist. The innovation of this product is very to my liking. I think this is the keynote for the further development of Minimalistic PC, and SPC is already very close to the ideal lightweight PC in my mind.

Crye's concept was already very advanced when he was a land warrior. 20 years later, your dad will still be your dad. w