General Issue

Mk 1 Combat Body Armor Origin: United Kingdom Developed: 1990s In service: 1991-2006 Wars: Gulf War (Operation Granby), War in Afghanistan (Op Veritas, Op Herrick),                  Iraq War (Op Telic) Patterns: ' 85 pattern DPM, Desert DPM Replacement: Mk 1 Osprey Body Armor Above: Mark 1 lightweight Combat Body Armor in  DPM and DDPM. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the British Army looked into the possibility of a new design for body armor that would offer better protection against fragmentation. In the early 1970s, soon after the Army started Operation Banner, its three-decade-long deployment to Northern Ireland during The Troubles, soldiers there were issued American-made M69 flak jackets, which had seen use in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. These saw use for about a decade until the late '70s and early '80s, when they were replaced by the 1979 pattern body armor, an updated version of the M1952 vest. Issue of the Improved North...

The 16th Parachute Brigade was an airborne infantry formation of the British Army, active from 1948-1977 and the predecessor to the modern-day 16 Air Assault Brigade. After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the 2nd Airborne Brigade, attached to the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), became the only major airborne formation in the Army after the 1st Airborne Division and the 6th Airborne Division were both disbanded. In 1948, the 2 Para Brigade was redesigned the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group as an amalgamation of the 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions, containing the previous numerals of both units to carry on their legacy.  Three parachute battalions were attached to the brigade after its creation: 1 PARA (previously the 4/6th Para Bn), 2 PARA (previously the 5th Scottish Para Bn), and 3 PARA (previously the 7th Light Inf. Para Bn).  16 PARA was deployed extensively in the Middle East during the 60s as a rapid-reaction 'fire brigade' for the Army. It deployed to...