The new MBAS system for Swiss Army

The Swiss army is receiving new equipment across the board. Everything from underwear to combat helmet is included in the MBAS. MBAS stands for “Modular Battle Attire and Support System” and since Switzerland is multilingual, you sometimes also find the abbreviation SMHE for this. That is French and means “Système modulaire d’habillement et d’équipement”. We want to take a closer look at the components.

Clothing

The new clothing system includes 33 new components. These are divided into seven layers, ranging from underwear to rain and cold protection, and also include headgear and clothing accessories. A combat shirt is, of course, included. A thin beanie for underneath the helmet is also a very sensible piece of gear.

Since a helmet is not always worn, there is a boonie hat for field use. The relatively large brim offers good protection against sun and rain.

When it gets too wet, rain gear is necessary. In the picture, you see the rain pants or are this insulated pants? We are not quite sure. Also visible, the top is a field blouse and not the combat shirt anymore.

Rain jacket or the warming jacket of the MBAS. The thicker beanie is also visible. The details on the pants and jacket look very promising.

Protective Equipment

The protective system consists of two new, modular, and configurable parts: a load-carrying vest and ballistic plate carrier. The plate carrier here in full configuration with a chest rig attached and combat belt worn separately.

In this close-up, you can see that the Swiss have chosen the quick closures from Lindnerhof Taktik. The plate carrier can also be equipped with a 3-mag placard for missions where full combat load isn't needed.

Here again, the plate carrier vest with the chest rig clipped on to it. It appears that the vest is also equipped with soft ballistic side inserts to offer a larger area of protection. Whether hard ballistic inserts can also be added, we do not (yet) know. This vest definitely has a quick-release system, as indicated by the triangular ring on the left shoulder.

Depending on the threat level, the protection can be adjusted. The zipped chest rig is also modular, as you can see in all the pictures. It has 4 fixed magazine pockets, and the front is equipped with PALS for attaching various pouches.

In this view, we can see that the chest rig can hold a lot of ammunition, including magazines grenades of various kinds.

Load Carrying Sustainment Equipment

Combat soldiers are usually heavily loaded, and a vest alone is not enough. So, a backpack is necessary. In the MBAS, there are three backpacks/bags: an assault backpack, a combat backpack, and a deployment bag. Unfortunately, we do not have a picture of the latter.

Here is another better picture of the assault backpack with a hydration system. In front lies the combat backpack on the ground. The knee pads are also part of the MBAS. We like the loop solution for attaching the knee pads to the combat pants.

The combat backpack seems to offer a lot of capacity. In terms of design, it reminds us a lot of the 3-Day-Pack from MYSTERY RANCH. A tried and tested and popular model.

The hydration system involves the hydration bladders from SOURCE HYDRATION.

We find it interesting that although a laser light box from Rheinmetall is used on the SG 550 (Stgw 90), the Swiss still mostly rely on iron sights. Perhaps an optic is already on the way.

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