European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 2007 stars and stripes Mideast edition pages army body Armor contract not yet awarded equipment had been promised for april marines on Okinawa receive new mtg vests by Jeff Schogol stars and stripes the army is late in delivering lighter body Armor to soldiers in an official with pro Gram executive officer Soldier peo Soldier said that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan would begin to receive the improved outer tactical vests that the army will begin Fielding the Iota april 07 As directed by department of the army Central com said Steven Pinter in an emailed response to questions to stars and stripes last but the army has not yet awarded a contract for the new body according to peo the army development Center for advanced Soldier equip ment officials at peo Soldier declined to comment about Why no contract has been it is not common army prac Tice to discuss pending contract awards in the an emailed response from peo As soon As contracts Are in peo Soldier would be pleased to conduct an interview with stars and asked if he could say Why no such contract had been Stephen who handles army resources issues i the new body Armor is de signed to have an additional 52 Square inches of Protection in the rear of the vests As Well As better carriers for Side ballistic plates and a Quick release handle that would allow soldiers to drop their Armor quickly in the vests Are also three pounds lighter than the body Armor sol Diers Wear now and they feature a Waistband that takes much of the vests weight off the Shoul in addition to the the army plans to begin issuing yet another generation of body Armor in fiscal 2010 or 2012 As part of the future Force Warrior sys the body Armor component of the known As the Chas is expected to have six Ballis tic plates that would be 12 per cent larger than current Small arms protective inserts and would be shaped to provide More Protection along the spine and re Duce gaps Between the before the Chassis can be fielded along with the rest of the sys researchers must see if the shaped plates provide the same amount of Protection As ballistic plates being used in an official with the army Natick Soldier Center in Massachusetts said the army May try to Roll out the body Armor earlier than but in Jef Frey Sorenson said the army time line for issuing the new body Armor had not the future body Armor has not gone through All its qualification has not been has not been fully validated in so at this Point in time its not ready for said Soren who deals with army Acquini technology and logistics is marines on Okinawa have this year received new modular tactical vests that give marines More Side but so far none of the new vests has been issued to marines Down officials at Marine corps systems command the decision to Field tvs to units preparing to deploy in the next few months was based on the need for units to train with the new said systems com Mand spokesman Jeff Lan Dis in a tuesday email to stars and each deploying Marine will be properly fitted with the mtg system and the gear normally carried on the by the corps expects to have tvs fielded to operating according to Marine corps systems the corps plans to introduce the next generation in body Armor in the next two to three depending on advances in email Jeff Schogol at  iraqi soldiers switching Over to m16s and m4s weapon to be paired with a troop through retinal photograph by Joseph Giordono stars and stripes in a major shift of the iraqi army is crossing Over from the ak47 assault Rifle to the Ameri manmade m16 and m4 military and iraqi officials have con the first class of iraqi recruits has already been issued m16s instead of american officials and As Many As iraqi troops will be using the Standard american Issue weapon by the end of the command issued a state ment saying that the iraqi govern ment made the decision to crossover from Standard ak47 assault rifles As part of the reshaping of their military and Security under the new officials iraqi army officers will be is sued m4 rifles while Rankan file soldiers will receive m16a4 the first iraqi recruits to be issued m16s were at the Camp Taji Region Al training North of efforts to reach iraqi defense officials about the switch in weaponry and the reasons for the change were unsuccessful but in the the military said the change is an upgrade to the individual soldiers the m16 has Long been consid ered the worlds Best Walter the military Transi Tion team commander and adviser to the training was quoted As say ing in the theres a High percentage of iraqi army recruits who can shoot More accurately than we expected just because of the better weapon system that they the m16 and m4 use my while the ak47 the most ubiquitous assault Rifle in the world uses a heavier Mac cording to weapons the m16 is in use by 15 nato coun tries and 80 other including some in the Middle East like Leba everyone from insurgents to Security forces to civilians in Iraq have used the ak47 for thousands of the weapons have been looted or sold from military and civilian families Are allowed to have one ak47 per the Mili tary has also purchased and imported new ak47s to Arm Security forces in the according to the military in the m16s and m4s issued to iraqi troops will be under heightened each iraqi troop issued a new Rifle must take it through a biometric Sta where the Soldier will be Finger Given a retinal scan and photographed with the Rifle and its serial officials then Transfer the information to a database in to ensure accountability and to prevent the weapon from ending up in the wrong the news release questions about the issuance of the new weapons including How the move would if in any troops operating with the iraqis were not answered by military officials by press time on representatives of Colt which manufactures m16s for the did not respond to questions email Joseph Giordono at  Nicholas of the army a 9th iraqi army division recruit is shown How to use the safety on his new m16a4 during training at the Taji Etc the american made m16 and m4 rifles Are replacing the current ak47 assault Rifle used by we do what we say say what we do roup from construction to maintenance from supplies to installation weve got it All located at Afghanistan Qatar Kuwait Iraq email us 1raq@wmgrqup.net