What little I found was at the Gore Technology booth. Wally Nelson from Gore shows the Marine Corps’ new Lightweight Exposure Suit to a showgoer. With 17k of the contracted 35k delivered, it’s a safe bet that the whole 2nd MEB should have some lightweight Gore weather protection when they roll into Afghanistan shortly.
The program started back in 2007 when the Marines decided to split from the incremental improvements made to the ECWS system and build a shell from the ground up. The jacket is made from a 2-layer system that has performance qualities similar to Gore-Tex PackLite, but with a tougher laminate to protect the membrane.
Gore is careful to point out that this isn’t Gore-Tex, though. Since the military is harder on their gear than skiers and Lalapalooza attendees, they won’t guarantee it’s waterproof. Legal semantics aside, it’s the same stuff –just in MARPAT, and it’s cool.
