Crye Precision Armour Chassis (GEN 1)
The Crye Precision's Armoured Chassis every time it makes an appearance. However you describe it - innovative, different, 'looks like a scorpion from behind', 'Starship Trooper-ish' etc; the Chassis really IS quite different from anything currently available, and I'll go out on a limb and say that it's the most advanced and forward-thinking system yet. In a relatively short time, Crye Precision has established itself as the military gear-design and manufacturing company to keep an eye on.
Overview - There are always pros and cons to the protection that the soldier wears to the battlefield. Personal protection is provided at the cost of mobility and weight. There's no easy way around it. The more protection that armour provides against bullets and shrapnel, the heavier and bulkier it becomes. The Crye Armoured Chassis aims to provide the soldier with a balance of the maximum amount of protection possible with today's existing material technology while still enabling the him to perform his job without restricting his freedom of movement and mobility.
The main components that make up the Chassis are: Front plate carrier, Rear plate carrier, left/right flank/torso, and left/right shoulder pieces. The flanks and shoulders are made out of ballistic material, providing level IIIA+fragment protection (2 grain through 64 grain). Instead of an armoured carrier that holds soft armour inserts with plate pockets on the outside, the Crye Chassis IS the armour. Front and rear plate pockets hold Crye-proprietary shaped plates, and connect the left and right flanks. The Chassis is cut short - and ends right above the belly button. It is meant to be worn in conjunction with the Crye Armoured Belt (more on that later), and allows complete freedom of motion when bending or sitting, while still providing ballistic protection at the waist level. The Chassis is covered in PALS webbing for attachment of pouches. The Chassis has an emergency release system - pulling two release cables will dump the entire rig. Chassis components come in M-XL sizes, and can be mixed and matched to fit a wide range of people. The medium Chassis shown weighs about 8lbs, without plates.
Chassis Components
Front Plate Carrier - The medium-size front plate carrier shown accepts Crye's proprietary shaped plate (Crye will be making another version to accept standard sized military rifle plates). The carrier is made in different sizes to accomodate the M-L Crye plates. A stand-alone plate must be used as there is no ballistic layer between the rear of the plate and the body. They have a 3/4" to 1" standoff distance from your body. There's an air gap in the front and back of the chassis, about 4-5" wide. The plates are supported where they overlap the chassis. If there's any back face deformation over the gap, there's that standoff distance between the back of the plate and the body. If you get a hit on the plate where it overlaps the chassis, the impact is distributed over a larger area as the chassis is pretty much rigid, unlike a soft panel, which can deform in a smaller, localized area. There's also about 1/4" of closed cell foam padding behind the chassis.
With a conventional plate carrier/vest, there isn't any standoff and the plate lies directly on top of the soft panel, so any backface deformation is transmitted through the panel into the body.
In-conjunction plates can be used with the crye chassis, as long as a ballistic insert is used behind them in the plate pockets. The top-opening pocket closes with snaps on the sides and a velcro flap on top. The pocket is lined with semi-rigid sheets of kydex inside, so it retains its shape, even without a plate inside, plus the kydex sheets provide some protection from fragments if the plate is hit. The front face of the carrier is covered in PALS webbing for attachment of pouches. A groin protection panel can be suspended from the webbing sewn on the bottom of the rear face of the carrier. The front plate carrier incorporates the main opening mechanism for the Chassis. A sliding plastic plate has a hook on the outboard upper corner, that hooks over a receptacle on the left flank panel, and is released by pulling a tab. Alternate plate carriers are available to fit other plates like SAPI, for both front and rear.
Rear Plate Carrier - The rear plate carrier shown fits a Crye-shaped medium plate (approx 9.5" wide x 14" tall). Shaped a bit like a wide hydration carrier, the carrier is top-opening via a velcro flap, and has a drag handle sewn in at the top. Rows of PALS webbing cover the outer face. When I first saw the Crye armoured Chassis, I noticed that the PALS webbing isn't sewn down tight, and that there is a little slack in it. I asked them if pouches would be secure if this were so, and they explained that providing a bit of slack in the webbing made it possible to weave the MOLLE straps more easily without sacrificing rigidity. I've found this to be true. Like the front plate carrier, the rear is lined with semi-rigid sheets of kydex, to keep its shape without a plate inside. I found that a 70oz camelbak bladder fits inside the rear plate carrier. I can't fill it up to capacity as it's flattened out, but I can fill it up about 3/4 full. If needed, it's possible to use the rear carrier for hydration if you don't have a rear plate. Rear plate carriers are also available to fit standard SAPI or similar plates.
Crye-proprietary shaped plates - Both front and back are triple-curved, and conform to my body-shape better than any other I've tried. Preference of plate shape is subjective, of course, and depends on your body size and shape. The plates are stand-alone, providing SAPI+API level protection. The dummy plates are .7" thick - same as the production ones. Plates will come in M-L sizes and weigh approximately 5.5-6lbs each. They are bigger than conventional plates and provide 20%-30% more coverage than traditional plates depending on size.
Ballistic Flanks - The side pieces (flanks) are semi-rigid, and molded/shaped to conform to your body. The ballistic material provides an equivalent of Level IIIA+frag protection, and provides the rigidity to the flanks. The rigidity of the flanks help support the load in the pouches - they won't flop. They also help distribute the load through the entire chassis instead of all the weight being borne by the shoulders. By incorporating the ballistic material as part of the component, instead of having a compartment and removable insert, a perfect fit with some weight savings can be achieved. 3 rows of PALS webbing cover the sides, and also on the rear quarter for attachment of the double hydration pouches, which are worn off-center. The inside surfaces of the flanks are lined with soft, velcro-compatible material, to which the removable pads are attached. Each flank has 3 removable pads - front, side and rear. Maximum thickness of the pads themselves are about .4" uncompressed. The pads provide a standoff from the armour, which insulates the user from impacts and blunt trauma, and the air gaps increase passive cooling, especially when worn with the Crye Combat shirt. The pads are made of fabric-covered closed cell foam with air channels molded into the surface, and can be removed for washing. No hard part of the chassis system contacts the body - it's suspended away from the body by these pads. As seen from the photos of me wearing the chassis, it's not as bulky as I thought it would be. The flanks themselves are about .5" thick, without the pads. The pads also serve to provide flotation.
Ballistic Shoulders - Like the flanks, the shoulders are also armoured. They're rigid, pre-shaped, and also about .5" thick, without the removable pads. A row of webbing runs over the top of the shoulder, and a stock-lock (rifle butt catch) is attached to the front of each shoulder. The stock-lock is molded of firm, slightly rubbery material, and with a 'tread' pattern on the front surface. The raised sides prevent the butt from slipping off the shoulders. I've tried shouldering my rifle and it feels pretty stable. The ballistic shoulders can also be had without the stock-locks. Chassis ride height is adjusted by swapping out the shoulder pieces with a different size.
Different shooters will position the rifle butt in different places on their shoulder. I shoot with my shoulders more square to the target whereas someone might be more bladed. At first, I found that my rifle butt was best on the inside of the stock lock, half on and half off. I'd have liked the stock lock to be farther inboard. I mentioned this to Caleb and he offered up what should have been an obvious solution: Adjust the rear lace so that the flanks are farther apart so the front can be pulled closer together. It worked. The inboard-outboard position of the stock locks can be adjusted about an inch, by varying the ratio of the distance between the front and rear flanks.
