Nordac Manufacturing Corporation was an American company active between 1977 – 1985 that manufactured military equipment. They were awarded contracts from the US government, for some webbing pouches, and foreign governments, through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program [1]. Nordac also made tactical gear for the commercial market, most notably shotgun shell pouches, a folding map case, H-pattern LC-1 (ALICE) suspenders, and the Defensive Support Vests (5.56mm rifle version shown on this page). Most of their commercial items were marked with fictitious government contract strings [2] [3] [4]. The company ceased operations in Summer 1985 during a federal investigation on their handling of a 1983 ammunition contract to the government of El Salvador where Nordac tried to import, re-pack, and export ammunition imported from Yugoslavia, against the terms of the FMS contract, though trying to claim it was US-manufactured [5] [6]. Nordac’s inventory was sold to Doug McDougal, who relabeled some existing items and continued manufacturing Nordac designs as London Bridge Trading (LBT) [7].
Rifle Vest:
These Defensive Support Vests were intended to be exported to Nicaragua through the FMS program [8], but were mostly sold on the commercial market starting around late 1981 [9]. This was likely because the Nicaraguan Somoza government fell in July 1979 before they could take delivery of the order [10].
The LBT product code for this vest is “LBT-1196”, of which an LBT-produced example can be seen here: https://webbingbabel.blogspot.com/2015/10/london-bridge-trading-lbt-1196.html.
The design of the vest appears to be taken from the prototype Natick rifleman’s vest [8]. These vests are made from nylon duck material like the standard issue grenade vests.
Tag:
The contract string on the tag is likely the 1977 FMS contract Nordac was awarded for the vests (NOT fictional).
Buckle:
Pouches:
Snaps:
Main Opening:
Inside:
Usage Photos:
Panama Defense Force (1989’s):
Special thanks to Squadron Sew Shop for collecting above usage photos [13].