by Wolverine Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:05 pm
The support straps, left and right pack straps, left and right braces, and the brace attachments were manufactured as late as 1990-91. The very last versions are easy to spot - the webbing is a tighter weave, the colour is a darker forest green, and it appears that the webbing is a poly-cotton blend, rather than pure cotton. Normally these late production items are clearly marked with NSNs and sometimes the date.
But for practical purposes, I doubt that the late production items saw a whole lot of use - they are usually found in un-issued condition, and by 1992-93, the new DPM equipment was available.