VIRTUS Trial Webbing

My eye was drawn to the genuine MTP webbing material on this belt kit, that's the only thing that made me look twice at it. I thought it could be a good investment to sell on or might be a comfier hip pad to use on my own webbing. I couldn't put my finger on a brand, I thought maybe Dixies Corner or JayJays, as I know the materials they use and the quality of their workmanship, so I took a punt, made the guy a cheeky offer and he took it.

When it arrived and I looked at it with my trained kit nerd eye, I decided that i might be keeping it for a little while yet!



In the hunt for a makers mark or label i discovered these and became quite excited...





Different pouches, different labels, different materials, same belt kit!

it appears that the yoke and hip pad have had labels removed, i cant find any marks on the other pouches though.

The label on the smoke pouch confirmed to me that the entire belt kit is one complete set. Every individual item has 'D(number)' written on it, linking them all, and then they are all made from the same off tinge green/tan webbing material.

In all there is:

yoke
hip pad
double mag pouch
dump pouch
2 x utilities
water bottle pouch
med pouch with insert
smoke pouch
belt with cobra buckle

Looking at it now with Virtus in mind i can see how all the pouches conform to this new 'fight light' method thats being instilled across the board, theres no heavy PVC lining to the pouches which means they can all be flattened or rolled way when not in use.

Interior of waterbottle pouch, two slots for puritabs and KFS.



I still cant quite pin down a particular manufacturer, the materials are somewhat inconsistent, for example different colour mesh on the yoke and interior of hip pad, and there's a mix of standard tan ITW nexus clips and olive drab YKK ladder locks.

Its definitely not CQC, but BCB perhaps? All I know about Company D is that they don't appear to have a slashing policy!

Good find George! I was offered a Virtus Daysack and Hydration Bladder...turned it down as they were asking for quite a bit of money for them! Good catch though, hat off to you my friend!

The company with the contract Source, doesn't make the gear themselves. They outsource and webbing comes from China, Vietnam, Malaysia among others. Not matter how good the kit is (it does look nice) it's a shame that CQC or another British company couldn't be awarded the contract or included in the supply. Nice find

It would be nice to know how many variants they went through before deciding on the current issue kit.Or perhaps the PECOC webbing laid the groundwork.

PS: Its driving me mad trying to figure out from the limited pics out there how the VIRTUS daysack integrates with the bergen.Does anybody know how?

Some pictures i found on the web, i can sadly take no credit. Note the VIRTUS helmet also in its cradle.

its all going on issue this month to the grenadier guards all of it

Looks complicated!

You absolute beaut Sobota!!
Looks to me like their is a helmet cradle on the daysack as well as the bergen.Or am I looking at it wrong?

Raptor wrote:You absolute beaut Sobota!!
Looks to me like their is a helmet cradle on the daysack as well as the bergen.Or am I looking at it wrong?

Whilst not having been given the idiots guide when this was foisted upon me to replace my more practical PLCE and having figured out the connecting the daysack to the bergen
conundrum through a time consuming trial and error approach the cradle on the bergen is more suited to, and about the only human way possible, of securing the bergan lid with the daysack clipped on the front of it.

As the bergen is so reduced in size that, unless your uniform is so small it fits primary school kids, you can only get your doss bag inside it, most other stuff has to go in the daysack. This then leaves not very much space for the stuff you would actually pack into your daysack.

(the policy might've changed to fight light but the powers that be and those who write kit lists appear to have missed or ignored the memo pretty much everywhere I've been)

Should you have by some miracle (usually by brute force and profanity) have squeezed all your made to carry into the bags and attached pockets/pouches and then managed to attach the two together the way they are intended to be, if you can get the straps and buckles to reach, your centre of balance/gravity is now a foot and a half behind you. If you are a master of dark magic and other witchcraft you might be able to cram the daysack under the top flap (although given the design on the spine side of these packs that's a risky move as it could slide out at any time), but then all the weights at the top of load.

As such, unless made to use it for specific things (prior to my handing it back on transferring to IC barrier operator) I avoided using it.