Laser Cutting Technology on Military Tactical Gear
Since the MOLLE (PALS system) at the turn of the century, the biggest change in the modularization of individual equipment is laser cutting. CO2 laser cutter is used to cut rows and rows of slits in the entire fabric to replace the MOLLE webbing. It is beautiful and novel, and it has even become a trend in the past two years.
There are two purposes for using laser cutting. One is to reduce weight and the other is to simplify the process.
The anti-terrorist war has highlighted the need for lightweight individual equipment for infantry and special forces. The first is to reduce weight from the structure, from the full-protection body armor to the key protection tactical vest (PC), and then the fabric, from the 1000D mainstream to the 500D mainstream, and then the designers focused on the MOLLE webbing.
A tactical vest has to be sewn with more than 20 thick one-inch strips of webbing over 20 cm in length, and the weight of this webbing is considerable, as is the amount of time required to sew the webbing onto the vest. By cutting the same standard cuts as MOLLE directly into the vest fabric with the laser, webbing can be eliminated and no additional webbing weight needs to be added. Moreover, cutting with a laser is faster and easier than sewing webbing, which saves on labor costs.
FS’s laser cutting is a one-cut opening in the fabric, which can only be counted as a cut instead of a groove.
Its fabric is a nylon fabric laminated with Velcro fleece, and from the current use effect, the tear resistance effect is still acceptable.. Compared to the CP and BFG fabrics, the FS fabric looks less high-tech, but is actually the most black-tech.
CP company’s cutting plan is a square cut, which is more convenient than the narrow slit of FS to insert the webbing, and it is also easier to use than the traditional MOLLE. Because the cut area is larger, the weight reduction effect is more obvious.
BFG’s minus system is very similar to CP’s scheme, both are square cuts. The difference is that CP is a nylon fabric compounded with Kevlar fiber, and BFG is a nylon fabric compounded with Hypalon rubber. BFG itself calls this fabric Helium Whisper.
More ordinary military fans may be exposed to the laser cutting system from DA’s Dragon Egg backpack. The laser cutting of Dragon Egg is different from FS, which is a slit, but a wider slot, which is obviously to facilitate the insertion of nylon webbing. The rounded corners on both sides of the slot are treated to increase the tear resistance. In the early DA products, the rounded corners on both sides are larger, which can present an obvious round shape. The larger the rounded corners, the better the tear resistance, and the rounded corners can also be seen on the square cuts of CP and BFG.
DA company’s fabric is nylon cloth laminated with a layer of PU, and the hand feel hardness is between CP and BFG company’s fabrics. The fabric coating on DA bags in the early days was much thicker than it is now, causing bags made of 500D fabric to be thicker than 1000D fabrics. Later, perhaps it was discovered that such a thick composite coating was not necessary. Perhaps it was a process improvement. The weight is obviously reduced a lot.
Although laser cutting seems to have become a trend symbol, we should understand that the original intention of laser cutting tactical vests is to reduce weight, simplify the process, and save labor.
