A Fantastic Test by the Air Force

The following is a republished article about the Air Force going with Wiggy's.

Arctic Survival Kit for Air Force F-35 Pilots Surprises Developers During Way-Below-Zero Trial

20 Nov 2019
Stars and Stripes | By James Bolinger

A cold-weather survival kit under development at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, was designed to keep F-35A Lightning II pilots alive at -40°.

Thanks to a thermometer glitch, the kit surprised its testers Nov. 5 by keeping subjects reasonably warm for six hours in temperatures that dropped below minus 65, said Tech. Sgt. Garrett Wright, operations noncommissioned officer for the Arctic Survival School, 66th Training Squadron, Detachment 1.

One of the four test subjects, Lt. Col. James Christensen, a pilot and commander of the 356th Fighter Squadron at Eielson, reviewed the kit in an email Wednesday to Stars and Stripes.

"This would enable pilots to survive for hours while awaiting rescue," he wrote. "However, I was never really warm or comfortable in that environment with this gear. I still had cold legs, feet and face, and the hands were a problem throughout the test. It will keep you alive, but not comfortable. Don't touch anything metal at that temperature!"

Related: F-35 Still Falling Short on Combat Readiness, Official Says

The test was successful, but the Air Force has yet to decide whether to include the new survival kit on board the stealth fighters when they arrive at the reactivated 356th in 2020.

Airmen at the Eielson survival school created the kit after the Air Force discovered the equipment in older fighters like the F-16 Fighting Falcon would not fit underneath the F-35A's ejection seat, Wright said by phone Wednesday. He began working on the project 1½ half years ago.

"I quickly realized that it was about two-thirds the size of the kit used for aircraft like the F-16," he said. "The sleeping bag would not fit under the ejection seat, so we needed something else that would fit and allow pilots to survive."

The sleeping bag was the major struggle for the team because, according to Wright, the best bags are filled with down, which do not retain their insulation properties very well after they have been vacuum sealed.

The team opted for a system by Wiggy Industries of Grand Junction, Colorado, that incorporates a synthetic insulating fiber called Lamilite into a poncho and pants that can be converted into a sleeping bag. According to the company website, Lamilite does not lose its ability to "re-loft" even after being vacuum packed.

The new kit also includes a raft that can be used as a shelter, wool mittens, six hand warmers that last 12 hours each, flares, a survival beacon, a space blanket and a Leatherman multitool, Wright said. The kit also includes a short saw and redesigned shovel that would fit the cramped space. The saw and shovel are used to build snow shelters.

"The system we tested has a lot of individual components to put on," Christensen said in his email. "It was difficult with my cold hands to get all of the gear on in a timely manner, but after everything was on, the system provided excellent protection.

"By using all of the pilot cold weather clothing, plus the survival system and the one-man life raft, I could build a cocoon of warm air surrounding my body," he said.

The squadron commander recalled the chilling details of the survival test, which took place in test chambers at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

"Any piece of exposed skin began to ache immediately," Christensen wrote in his email. "Within 30 seconds, the fingers would feel pain and within 90 seconds they would go numb. I would have to stop working to warm them up again. I was very careful to protect the nose and cheeks from exposure as well."

The system was designed for temperatures around minus 40, but a fluke at the test facility brought the temperature below minus 65, Wright said.

About five hours into the test, while taking digital temperature readings and checking on the test subjects, Wright said he felt something was off and asked the facility staff for a mercury thermometer.

His digital thermometer indicated minus 40 in the colder chamber, but after five minutes the mercury thermometer dropped below minus 65. He said the team knew for sure the kit would function beyond its intended parameters.

I was very pleased to see Wiggy’s mentioned in the article. Two errors, the company is Wiggy’s Inc. not Wiggy Industries. The other error is that down is NOT the best insulator; Lamilite is.

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS REPRINTED FROM  POPULAR MECHANICS AND THE APPLE NEWS WEB SITE

Airmen in Subzero Temps Discover F-35 Survival Kit Works Better Than Advertised

A testing malfunction accidentally subjected airmen to -65 degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily, the survival kits worked regardless.

By Kyle Mizokami
Nov 21, 2019

• The F-35has smaller accommodations for pilot survival gear than previous aircraft.
• As a result, the first F-35 squadron to be based in cold weather has been working on a smaller survival kit.
• An accident during testing revealed the kit actually works at 25 degreeslower than originally planned.

A survival kit designed to keep F-35 pilots alive in freezing conditions has proven its worth all the way down to -65 degree Fahrenheit. The new kit, designed by the airmen that will fly with it under their seats, is designed to be smaller than previous kits while protecting pilots from the elements until rescue.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter differs from older jets in one peculiar way: the space under the ejection seat is a third smaller than the same space in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Unfortunately, that’s where the pilot survival kit goes. The pilots of the 356th Fighter Squadron will receive their F-35s in 2020, operating them out of Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, so squadron personnel created a new kit using new materials designed to keep pilots alive in the Arctic cold.

The kit consists of hand warmers, a signal flare, packaged water, a dye marker, compass, hand saw, and other items. The new also required a super warm sleeping bag, one that compressed but still kept a person warm in subzero temperatures. The airmen finally included a sleeping bag made by Wiggy Industries of Colorado, which uses a synthetic fiber known as Lamilite. Indeed, the company sells a sleeping bagit says is rated all the way down to -60 degrees below zero.

According to a U.S. Air Force articleon the kit, the fit is so tight that the pieces of the kit can’t just be thrown inside, but rather must be fit in, “like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle.”

The test to ensure the kit’s contents worked as planned took place at the International Artic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. There, according to the website Stars and Stripes, airmen were placed in two different rooms, one dropping to -20 degrees and the other to -40 degrees. An undetected thermometer malfunction inadvertently exposed the airman in the latter room to -65 degrees, but those inside reported the system still worked as planned.

Eielson will be the first cold weather military facility to get the F-35, so the 356th Squadron is leading the way on developing the appropriate survival gear. The F-35 arctic survival kit is meant to keep pilots alive for a minimum of 24 hours. Thanks to a harmless accident, pilots can fly knowing their gear will work for sure—and even in temperatures colder than intended.

Source: Stars and Stripes

As you can see, I wrote to the IG of the Marine Corpse checking the status of my complaint. I also included additional information that might be of interest to him.

-----Original Message-----

From: Wiggys [ mailto:wiggys@Wiggys.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 11:53 AM
To: MCSC_IG < MCSC_IG@usmc.mil>
Subject: [Non-DoD Source] CASE NUMBER 22142

Mr. Kottmyer

Just checking the status of the case number noted above.

As an aside I suggest you have the product manager view my video on my website home page about the fact that I make non-combustible sleeping bags.

Also, the Lamilite insulation is the only non-combustible insulation on the market. This should be important for the insulation used in muk luk over boots since that is what the woman working in safety wanted for the muk luks she wanted last summer.

Thanking you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

Jerry Wigutow
President, Wiggy's Inc.
Phone: 866-411-6465

What follows is his response.

November 21, 2019

Good Morning Sir,

We are still working your complaint. Currently I am out of the office and should return on/about 2 December 19.

Jackson Kottmyer
Command Inspector General
Marine Corps Systems Command
2200 Lester Street
Quantico, VA 22134

Since this is public record, I have no problem reporting what is or is not transpiring.

I wonder what is not understood about my complaint.

I stated the solicitation was never published on August 27 as was told to me by the contract specialist Anthony Fennell. All the IG has to do is ask him why it was not published?

According to Todd Towles (I believe he is active duty Marine, what rank I do not know) he researched muk luks or over boots and could not find any sources other than outdoor research. Strange since he called me last year when he read the article, I published about working with the Marine Corpse at Cherry Point Marine Corpse base N.C. with muk luks. In addition he spoke with Natick Labs about my muk luk over boots. Need I give more examples of his knowledge of my existence making these products.

Maybe the IG question how they arrived at using the “intent to sole source” under federal regulation 13.106-(b)(1)(i). This states there are "NO OTHER COMPANIES CAPABLE OF MAKING THIS PRODUCT".

Now if the IG were doing his job, he could have had all of the answers necessary to void the contract, as this is my opinion.

How about a review of my history with the Marine Corpse.

In 1993 I made the first two bag system for the MC. Having seen my product they went to Natick who went to Tennier Industries to copy my product but the didn’t the bastardized it. I made a video of the bag and sent it to the commandant (Carl Mundy JR. I believe) at the time reviewing its fallacies. I never heard back. They went a head with their version and it failed very successfully and they changed it 4 or 5 time supposedly and it continued to fail. Today it is not made.

The actions taken by me to educate them as to what will work has never worked on my part. THEY NO MORE THAN I DO!!! If that were the case, they would be in the sleeping bag business.

If you are a Marine, and want warm feet get Lamilite socks, if you want a warm dry body get fishnet underwear, in addition get the Lamilite jacket liners or vests, they do not retain any moisture. And of course if you want to sleep get a Wiggy bag. of course there are several “no sleep sleeping bags” on the market that units buy that are excellent when you are stationed at the southern arctic which is the equator.

The problem the IG has is that he does not know what to do other than to continually put off letting me know what their investigation shows. I will no longer rattle his cage.