A team at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana, has invented an ammunition dispensing backpack for belt-fed weapons that weighs in around nine pounds and can hold a 650 round-belt of NATO 7.62mm.
The best part, they built it using materials that cost an estimated $300, with basic manufacturing methods, which can reduce delivery times.
In many aspects, including cost and capacity, this backpack is superior to current products in the market, and its design is available to businesses who would commercialize it into a new product.
The Navy backpack utilizes an ammunition chute and a partition that divides the container, keeping the belt from twisting to ensure a smooth feed into the chute.
TechLink, the Department of Defense’s national partnership, is helping the Naval Surface Warfare Center find qualified companies to commercialize the invention.
In this episode of the High Speed, Low Drag podcast, Troy Carter, senior writer at TechLink, discusses the ammunition backpack and explains why it could be a new product.