beginning of the 1990s. Woodpecker was, on that time, a great back-
pack for mountain tourism. It had internal support, a high main com-
partment, and a convenient carrying system with many configuration
options. It was perfect for marching in the mountains. Does such a
backpack comply with all current military standards? Unfortunately,
the answer is no – ZPG is sewn of weak materials, it is heavy, with
lots of plastic clamps and buckles, and, after many years, it was finally
improved with green finishing straps. The backpack is incompatible
with gear or ballistic vests, which should be a standard.
The backpack used by units operating in the mountains, as well
as for mechanized units, should be developed from scratch – a
similar situation was encountered at the beginning of the 21st
century by American marines who introduced ILBE backpacks
for use. They were very convenient during march because they
were designed on the basis of mountain backpack. However,
it appeared soon that ILBE were totally incompatible with the
used ballistic vests, which resulted in designing brand new FILBE
backpacks based on external supports that worked with vests.
On the basis of the carrying system of such a backpack, after
detaching the transport compartment, it would be possible to
easily obtain a carrier to transport e.g. items with non-standard
shapes and size.
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