Survival Innovations LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N211-004

Description

Current designs of military survival vests include hard armor plates for protection from small arms fire.  These plates are normally loaded into the vest from the bottom, into a pocket behind a MOLLE-based platform used to mount a large variety of mission-dependent survival gear.  The armor pocket insertion area is closed using various techniques such as Hook/Loop fastener or Pin & Cable mechanisms and supports the armor weight during use, which can be substantial considering G-loads imposed from flight maneuvers, hard landings, or survivable crash events.  Consequently, removal of the plates often requires much effort, especially removal by the wearer due to the closure strength required to withstand armor loads.  In addition to the armor pocket closure method, friction imposed by a tight fitted vest often requires multiple pulls to release the armor plates.  This scenario is a serious hazard in an emergency situation requiring an immediate release, such as failure of the flotation system to inflate or onboarding a life raft. Commonly with current designs, hard armor extraction is achieved with a strap sewn at the lower vest and routed up and over the hard armor plate and exiting the lower vest on the opposite side of the plate, such that when pulling the free-end of the strap, the armor plate is forced downward and out of the vest.  This technique introduces a mechanical loss with a 2:1 pull ratio (ie. 10-inches of strap pull = 5-inches of hard armor movement).  The pull forces required can be substantial to overcome the closure technique such as shearing Hook/Loop fastener.  Survival Innovations (SI) proposes a retrofit Hard Armor Release System (HARS) that provides ease of release to meet the emergency needs of mission personnel while requiring minimal change, if any, to the existing vest platforms. The HARS design suspends each armor plate within the existing vest pocket from the top of the vest rather than allowing it to be supported in place by hook-and-loop panels at the bottom of the pocket or by other closure means. Each armor plate is encased in a two-piece telescoping encasement of select materials linked by a single release mechanism. The said mechanism is a patent-pending design developed by Survival Innovations affords release under load. The same force to release the mechanism also pulls the lower telescoped encasement out of the suspended upper encasement, resulting with 1:1 pull ratio.  The upper encasement is configured with a "skirt" that blocks or bypasses the existing vest closure technique thus avoiding the need to overcome supporting closures.