September 28, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land
By: Shawn Snow
Marines will soon be getting their hands on a new lighter and better fitting plate carrier.
On Wednesday, the Defense Department announced that a five-year contract of $62,612,464 was awarded to Vertical Protective Apparel LLC, a New Jersey-based company, to produce the Corps' Plate Carrier Generation III.
The contract calls for a maximum of 225,886 new plate carriers over a five-year period.
The Corps has been in collaboration with the Army for new lighter and better fitting plate carrier and ballistic armor since a policy update in 2016 from the Capabilities Development Directorate called for a fit update.
“The legacy carrier fit the span of the Marine Corps, but this new system is more tailorable to fit Marines of various sizes with three new smaller-stature options,” Flora “Mackie” Jordan, body armor engineer for the Infantry Combat Equipment Team at Marine Corps Systems Command, said in a command release. “We wanted to give as much mobility back to Marines as possible by reducing the weight and bulk of the vest without decreasing ballistic protection. We were able to reduce the weight of the vest by 25 percent.”
The Corps managed to shave an inch-and-a-half from the bottom and removed some material from the shoulders.The new fit will help lighten the load and reduce fatigue on the battlefield.
The new plate carrier is "less bulky, lighter in weight, and provides a smaller overall footprint than the current plate carrier while maintaining the same soft armor coverage and protection level," Barbara Hamby, a spokeswoman for Marine Corps Systems Command, told Marine Corps Times last July, while describing a prototype of the new plate carrier.
The new carrier also comes with a quick release, which will help Marines take the carrier off faster than the legacy system
Marines are also amid plans to procure lighter ballistic armor.
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By: Jessie Bur The Department of Defense kicked off its sixth bug bounty program Aug.12 with Hack the Marine Corps, a challenge focusing on the Corps' public-facing websites and services. “Hack the Marine Corps allows us to leverage the talents of the global ethical hacker community to take an honest, hard look at our current cybersecurity posture," said Maj.Gen. Matthew Glavy, the head of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, in a news release. “Our Marines need to operate against the best. What we learn from this program will assist the Marine Corps in improving our war-fighting platform, the Marine Corps Enterprise Network. Working with the ethical hacker community provides us with a large return on investment to identify and mitigate current critical vulnerabilities, reduce attack surfaces and minimize future vulnerabilities. It will make us more combat ready.” The DoD launched its first bug bounty, Hack the Pentagon, in May 2016, which was considered one of the first major successes for the then-newly minted Defense Digital Service. Since then the DoD has held bug bounties for the Army, the Air Force, the Air Force again and the Defense Travel System. The combined programs resulted in over 600 resolved vulnerabilities with approximately $500,000 awarded to the ethical hackers participating in the program. “Information security is a challenge unlike any other for our military. Our adversaries are working to exploit networks and cripple our operations without ever firing a weapon," said Chris Lynch, the director of the Defense Digital Service. "Sometimes, the best line of defense is a skilled hacker working together with our men and women in uniform to better secure our systems. We're excited to see Hack the Pentagon continue to build momentum and bring together nerds who want to make a difference and help protect our nation.” Hack the Marine Corps was launched with HackerOne, which partners with the hacker community to help businesses and government conduct bug bounties, and kicked off with a live hacking event coinciding with the Black Hat USA, DefCon and BSides conferences in Las Vegas. The live hack resulted in 75 unique vulnerability reports and more than $80,000 in awards. “Success in cybersecurity is about harnessing human ingenuity,” said Marten Mickos, CEO at HackerOne. “There is no tool, scanner or software that detects critical security vulnerabilities faster or more completely than hackers. The Marine Corps, one of the most secure organizations in the world, is the latest government agency to benefit from diverse hacker perspectives to protect Americans on and off the battlefield.” The bug bounty program ends Aug. 26. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/marine-corps/2018/08/13/pentagon-invites-researchers-to-hack-the-marine-corps/