The ATS “Universal” AK Chest Rig – Minimalist Load-Bearing Done Right.

 

Gear just seems to get more and more expensive as companies add more and more features and build kit out of high tech materials. IMHO not everyone needs that. Sometimes you just need something basic to get you started while you figure out what you need. I have always preferred gear that has built in utility, that can be used in different roles.

The ATS AK harness utilizes proven concepts and design features to come up with a rig that works with most rifles and lets you carry the essentials. While offering some basic modularity if you need to expand its capacity, all for $175 or less.

The only cons that I can see are that the overall capacity might not be enough for some. And the harness system is straight up weird (although easily fixable). By stitching the male buckle into the rig you lose the quick adjust feature of its built in ladder lock. Adjustment is done with a tri glide on the strap, which is fiddly and difficult to do on the move. This can be easily fixed by removing the male buckle and using a split bar buckle.

I get that its not for everyone and its not as gucci as some of the options but for the price its tough to beat. If looking to get your first rig, need to be able to carry different mags or you are after a minimalist rig these are worth checking out.

PALS on the shoulder harness allows for the mounting extra pouches.

Wings and dangler pouches can be mounted using the hook and loop panel.

Ephod A10 webbing.

The Ephod was introduced by the Israel Defense Forces in the mid-1970s, replacing older cotton webbing and ad-hoc vests used throughout the 1960s and early ‘70s. It was named after the apron worn by a high priest.

Designed by Rabintex Industries near Tel Aviv and first used operationally in the legendary 1976 Entebbe Raid, the Ephod’s development directly responded to hard-earned combat experience and a need for greater comfort and efficiency on the battlefield.

The vest was one of the first to make use of modern materials like nylon webbing and velcro. The vest soon became standard issue, seeing action in South Lebanon and beyond. 

Many different countries adopted it or copied it and made their own versions. US special operations forces units experimented with them in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s." and that lead to the LBT riverine series that was very popular with the Navy SEALs. London Bridge Trading 1195 series, which started around 1991 and inspired the SOFLCS and other LCS systems.

Israeli troops appreciated the Ephod’s comfort and design. It could be worn high over a flak vest, put on and taken off like a jacket — no more fiddling with belts. The magazine pouches could carry eight rifle mags, and the vest’s pocket layout offered an elbow rest for the firing position. Later versions had a slightly different layout and tended to have more pouches with the exception of the Armored crewman's version.

Special Forces variant.

Armored crewman's version

The system was so effective it became a reference point for later global designs, and its export history shows how widely it was respected.

Nation state users

•  Argentina: used by the Mountain Cazadores.
•  Ecuador: used by the Naval Infantry Corps.
•  El Salvador: used by the Salvadoran Army.
•  Estonia: used by the Estonian Land Forces.
•  France: used by the Special Operations Command units.
•  Guatemala: used by the Parachute Brigade and Kaibiles.
•  Israel: used by the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli security forces.
•  Italy: used by the Folgore Brigade Paratroopers.
•  Lebanon: used by the Lebanese Armed Forces.
•  Palestine: used by the Palestinian National Security Forces (PNSF).
•  Peru: used by the Peruvian Armed Forces and Peruvian Naval Infantry.
•  Syria: used by the Syrian Army Commandos.
•  Sri Lanka: used by the Sri Lanka Army.

Non-state users

•  Free Syrian Army: used Lebanese-produced copies.
•  Hezbollah: used captured vests from the Lebanese Forces, SLA, and IDF between 1983 and 2000, and locally made copies.
• Arab Democratic Party (Lebanon): used captured vests from the Lebanese Forces between 1983 and 1990, and locally made copies.
• Islamic Unification Movement in Lebanon (Tawheed): locally made copies.
•  Hamas (Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades): used captured vests from the IDF and PNSF, and locally made copies.
•  Palestine (PLO armed factions in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank): used captured vests from the Lebanese Forces, SLA, IDF, and PNSF, and locally made copies.

Former users

•  Amal Movement: used captured vests from the Lebanese Forces, SLA, and IDF between 1983 and 2000, and locally made copies.
•  Cuba: locally produced clones used in the 1980s during Cuba's military intervention in Angola.
•  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: used by the Serbian Special Police Units during the Kosovo War, being used afterwards by the Special Operations Unit of the former Yugoslavian State Security Service (RDB) for training purposes, and briefly by the Serbian Gendarmerie between 1998 and 2003.
• Marada Brigade: used captured vests from the Lebanese Forces between 1982 and 1990.
•  Nicaragua: used by the National Guard between 1977 and 1979.
•  Lebanese Forces: provided by Israel between 1978 and 1993.
•  People's Liberation Army (Lebanon): used captured vests from the Lebanese Forces between 1983 and 1993.
•  Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN): used captured vests from the Nicaraguan National Guard between 1978 and 1979.
•  Singapore: locally made SBO versions used by the Singapore Armed Forces between 1995 and 2007.
• South Lebanon Army (SLA): Provided by Israel between 1978 and 2000.
•  Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon used captured vests from the Lebanese Forces, SLA, and IDF between 1983 and 1990, and locally made copies.

The "Bitch" SASR "Elephant guns" in Vietnam.

Elephant gun’s in use with SASR in RVN.

The 7.62 mm SLR was a noisy beast which didn’t go bang—it went boom! Often referred to as ‘the elephant gun’ by the Diggers, it was by far the noisiest rifle in the war that wasn’t a machine gun. Its sheer power made a lasting impression on those who used it.

“I had seen a guy hit with an SLR through a rubber tree, and I thought that was pretty impressive—so I liked that.”

The SAS patrol SLRs were converted to fully automatic by the squadron armourer, who also removed the flash eliminator to shorten the weapon’s length. The modifications made the weapon even more formidable:

“The back sight was set so that it couldn’t be lowered, so it was up at all times. The armourer fixed it up and put it on fully automatic for us, and with the flash eliminator taken off, took off the bayonet boss and all that shit. They were pretty nasty weapons. It creates a long flame. You could shoot and cauterise the wound at fifteen paces!”

When fired on full-auto, the SLR was a fearsome weapon, especially in an ambush. The overwhelming noise and firepower often gave the enemy the impression they were facing a much larger force:

“The sound of an SAS contact is just awesome. There is no, ‘Bang’—I wonder what that was?—‘Bang’—a few more shots. Whatever is happening? If we got away the first rounds, it would be automatic and it would be a full magazine, maybe if there were unders and overs (M203), we would have grenades going off, and rapidly joined in by the other patrol members. So it would rapidly escalate into a huge amount of fire by five people putting down automatic fire and grenades and so on. So we could recognise when one of our own patrols had a contact, and knew it was an SAS patrol. It could not be anybody else.”

Nev Farley explained the patrol’s SOP for an initial burst of fire:

“We used 30-round magazines, and most of the blokes carried a 30-round magazine on their weapon. Because the idea was that when you had a contact, you deliberately fired as much ammunition as you could, and if you had those bloody SLRs on fully automatic, firing a 30-round magazine, and if the flash eliminator was taken off it, you would think, ‘Fuck! What have I hit here?’ Because it sounded heavy, and fast, and automatic, and it would just make old Charlie think, ‘Shit, I’ve hit something big here’ and it would stop them, rather than race in and try to take you out. Because they think they have hit so much firepower, it’s at least a bloody company, and by that time we’ve got ourselves on a back bearing and fucked off out of there. But, once that first magazine was gone, from then on that was our rule—you fired well-aimed, single shots. But it was quite okay to fire a full mag for the first part of it in the initial contact. It’s pretty bloody scary when five blokes all open up at once. There’s a lot of noise and if you’ve got three SLRs on fully automatic with a 30-round magazine, shit flies everywhere.”

To add to the intimidation factor, the SAS often loaded extra tracer rounds:

“We wanted to put a lot of tracer into the magazines so that—from the bad guys’ point of view—they could see a lot of tracer coming at them, as well as the noise of having a lot coming at them. They could physically see the tracer, which gave the impression that we had more firepower.”

Despite its firepower, the SLR wasn’t the easiest weapon to carry:

“When you look back, it was cumbersome to be a scout with that weapon, but it was all right. It was good in a shit fight.”

The modified SLRs were brutal, loud, and effective, embodying the aggressive, high-impact combat philosophy of the SASR in Vietnam. The combination of sheer noise, rapid fire, and strategic deception made the enemy think twice before pushing forward.

From the book “On Patrol with the SAS, Sleeping with your ears open.” By GARY McKAY.

SADF SF gear designer Johann Niemoller.

 

If you have any interest in South African militaria or LBE you will have heard of the name Johann Niemoller. Johann was an officer in the SADF Reconnaissance Commandos, he designed some unique equipment for the Recce's based on his experience. Johann is a busy man and owns and operates several chrome, coal, and manganese mines. He very kindly took time out of his busy schedule to chat with me about his time designing gear.

I asked Johann how he got into designing gear.
"When I was in Special Forces many years ago, the army sent me to Mozambique up to the north of Tanzania, to train the Renamo army and then walk from the north to the south back to South Africa, about 1500km, which took me 4 months. Finally arriving back in South Africa, I bought a sewing machine and started making my clothing and webbing as I thought it should be. So I had to make it for everybody with me in the Recces, and so It became the standard. I am unchanged till today, I am making new designs but the collapse of the SA Army does not warrant manufacture on a larger scale. I have the original drawings, I will look for them and send you a copy."

Johann designed the light assault webbing to carry four mags. Another three would be carried in chest webbing that he designed and was made from a 350-gram nylon fabric with a coating. The rear pouch was for the roll up medical kit and a 1 litre drip. The small pouches on the yoke and the top of the side pouches were to give quick access for three bomb bandages. The two front pouches at the sides were for white phos or M26 grenades and the smaller front pouch was for a pocket knife. The two large side pouches could take a 2-litre water bottle a radio or extras. On the left front yoke strap was provision for a knife. 

Type one Niemoller Light Assault Webbing.

Johann also designed other items such as bags, including several medical bags, a set of Fire Force webbing, the hot  extraction harness, a pistol pocket and some clothing. Johann got his sewing machine around 1983. "It was a brother walking foot machine. I bought in Cape Town and transported to Phalaborwa 5 Recce Base and put it in my room next to my bed." The type two webbing was made for 4 recce and designed for sea operations.

Type two Niemoller Light Assault Webbing.

Hot extraction vest designed by Johann Niemoller and Mike Du Toit in 1987.

I asked Johann if he was involved in the Pathfinder/ 32 Battalion/ S2000 or the cabbage patch 90 webbing. He replied, "Even today governments takes your design and then give it to army contractors without asking or talking to you, and then the webbing has the same look but completely different, every officer in 32 or army is better than you and he is the commanding officer and so he wants a say as well, so I never intended if the requirement or price they offer was not acceptable."

I also asked how it felt knowing that his designs were so influential? They were still being used long after the introduction of the Pattern 90 webbing. "I never thought it would be so popular, the long walks in the Recces were quite memorable events." 

Rare Niemoller webbing designed for use with R1 magazines.

Johanns gear was very popular in the Recces and used for many years.  Andy from  Andys gasworks on IG passed on this from a discussion with an SF Operator.

“In essence he said he liked it and it was a popular webbing system. His use of pouches was driven by his position as a team leader. There was no water carried on his setup, which surprised me as it’s a very risky strategy in that part of Africa. I assume that although carried in his Bergen he would have had at least 1 2l container attached externally in a removable pouch that could be slung over his shoulders if he had to ditch his pack and go on the run."

"On the Niemoller the two 2L pouches were used for ground to air radio and ground to ground radio. Then a Tacbe was carried in a pouch on his left upper, while the Zip pocket on his right held more comms kit (pocket torch, heliograph, pencil flares and launcher)."

"The ‘flatpack’ zip pouch held a small but comprehensive med kit, saline drip and giving kit. Magazines were held in mag pouches, grenades, binoculars in other GP pouches. He also wore a chest rig beneath the Niemoller containing 2 more AK mags, an E&E kit, and his Sidearm.”

While Johann was not involved both the Pathfinders and 32 Battalion designed their own webbing inspired by his work.

Pathfinder webbing.

32 Battalion webbing.

Johanns webbing has been copied and modified many times.

A copy of the type two webbing made for the SANDF by Thorax in S2000 camo.

A set of webbing made for Backpacker by a Cut Make and Trim (CMT) contractor and used by Executive Outcomes.

A set of custom webbing designed to hold ten magazines.

Custom Niemoller webbing, most likely done as a one off.

Special thanks to Johann Niemoller, MJ and Andys gasworks.