A Cult Hit, Reimagined

Michael Mann's HEAT (1995) immediately gained a cult following on release. Its unique gritty and grounded approach bucked a decades-long trend of formulaic action films, exposing audiences to realistic military and police tactics. A combination of great direction, talented actors, and qualified technical advisors (ex-SAS) made the film's climactic bank heist one of the most memorable scenes of the 90s.

This nearly 15-minute-long sequence made HEAT a cinematic legend. Shot in downtown LA, an easy score quickly escalates into a claustrophobic mess of a shootout. Expert gun-handling, booming on-location audio, and a huge cast of supporting firearms all help to make an unforgettable impression. This short sequence would inspire popular culture and media for generations to come.

The Vest

One of the things that helped HEAT feel authentic were the props. The ex-SAS advisors employed by the production had quite literally been there and done that, and this prowess was reflected in the improvised equipment and tactics featured on screen.

This includes the single most iconic prop of the film, the 'Heat' rig; an improvised vest capable of hiding 8 STANAG magazines underneath a suit jacket. Being inconspicuous was important to the characters in HEAT — to pull off their plan, they needed to waltz into a busy, guarded bank with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and rifles without anyone batting an eye.

The vests were cool and certainly believable, but there's a big problem. You never quite see them get used as much as they're shown off. The Heat rigs magically pop on and off of the characters as convenient, the magazines are perfectly retained since they're stitched on, and many of the shots portray other glaring issues.

We can't blame them; every production has to make some concessions. But in a market ravenous for a working clone of the Heat rig, many copies of this prop fell flat. We wanted to fix that.

 The Heat Rig

Make no mistake - our rig is an homage to the movie HEAT. It's not meant to compete with other "bank robber" chest rigs on the market. What we set out to do was to make the vest from the movie real and useable. 

Magazine Compatibility  

Now for the first question most people are going to ask — what kind of magazines fit in the rig?

The movie depicts standard USGI STANAG magazines for the AR-15 platform, and we built our elastic retention system around that. Nearly all standard capacity AR-15 magazines should fit without issue, including popular polymer mags from leading brands.

However, we can't guarantee fit of magazines from other platforms. You're welcome to try of course, but we can't provide any guidance there.

Each mag cell features two thick straps of elastic for retention and nylon straps on either end to ensure magazines stay in place. On one end of each mag cell, there's a small hook & loop fastener to access magazines. Simply twist the magazine and pull out, and you're ready to reload.

Sizing & Fit 

Our heat rig uses a simple & effective adjustment system.

Large straps with hook and loop fields make it easy to adjust the vest to fit perfectly.

Our rig fits bodies big & small, and our sizing system is simple — either go with your US shirt size or measure your abdomen, that's it (for more specifics, see our sizing chart or feel free to email us at help@kommandostore.com and we'll get you fitted).

It may take some trial and error to refine your fit. If you have difficulties, we suggest different jackets & raising/lowering the rig. We cover this topic in our overview video, which we highly recommend watching for troubleshooting your rig.

Note: our overview video is outdated, from when we made the rig in the USA. it is now made in Vietnam, which we cover in the next section.

Quality

The last big issue we wanted to address with the rig was quality, especially now that we've moved manufacturing overseas to Vietnam.

Manufacturing in Vietnam has allowed us to obtain the proper mesh, keep the same excellent overall manufacturing quality, and make the rig much more affordable for you all at once.

We've seen the examples of both one-off 'bank robber rigs' and other HEAT-inspired equipment on the market. All are plagued by cheap hardware, even cheaper materials, or inconsistent quality resulting in a disappointing Chinese-made Halloween costume feel. All the specs, quality, and functionality that makes the HEAT rig great are there at just over half the price of our original. 

Specs:

• Custom, semi-stiff resin finished polyester mesh fabric
• Milspec elastic, webbing, and hook and loop
• Locking YKK Zipper
  
• Tear-away magazine action
• Elastic cummerbund with hook & loop attachment for wide range of adjustment 

We've got your back

By ordering the 'Heat' rig, you're placing a 100% refundable deposit on our incoming inventory. If you change your mind before it ships, just reach out to us and we'll cancel your order. And of course, once your rig is delivered it's covered by our standard 30 day return policy.

If a product is marked as a "Pre Sale", it means that inventory is already in production, and you're reserving the item ahead of time.

"Pre Sales" also mean there is limited inventory available to reserve. If it's sold out, it's sold out, and you'll have to wait for the next restock or backorder to begin.

At any point in time before we ship it to you, the item is 100% refundable. After it ships to you, you're covered by our 30-day return policy.

"А ну, чики-брики и в дамки!" (phonetically: A nu chiki-briki i v damki!) 

Any fan of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series knows and loves this phrase - one of the common sayings from the beloved bandit faction. It translates to "One, two, you're on top!" - a phrase relating to the act of stacking pieces in the game of checkers to make a 'king' (metaphorically, for having the advantage in battle)

The bandit faction, the phrase, and the west's warm embrace of the eastern European apocalyptic shooter resulted in a whole genre of memes as well as a lot of Kommandostore's aesthetics. So, it's only fitting that after all this time, we make the signature piece of Bandit-wear for ourselves: a Russian inspired three-hole balaclava.

Drawing from a design seen worn on the spetsnaz with tweaks for fit, we've made the go-to visage for all kinds of shenanigans, tomfoolery, hooliganism, skylarking, neer-do-welling, rapscalionism, and if you're in the United States military, lance-corporal-esque activities.

It's both a love letter to a much-beloved piece of media, and an essential part of a complete Slavic LARP kit.

Specs

• 100% Cotton
• Classic goofy Russian-styled 3-hole design with reinforced stitching
• One size fits most
• Available in Black and Olive Drab Green
• Imbued with bandit slav energy - will cause you and your friends to feel devious, silly, and perhaps begin horsing around

If a product is marked as a "Pre Sale", it means that inventory is already in production, and you're reserving the item ahead of time.

"Pre Sales" also mean there is limited inventory available to reserve. If it's sold out, it's sold out, and you'll have to wait for the next restock or backorder to begin.

At any point in time before we ship it to you, the item is 100% refundable. After it ships to you, you're covered by our 30-day return policy.

Kamysh or Kamush camo which roughly translates to “reed” or “cane” (as in, the plant) is a family of “urban” blue tiger stripe camo used by Russia’s OMON, OSN Vityaz, and other special police units. 

Tiger stripe camos on their own are a pretty effective pattern. "Kamysh" gets its namesake from being naturally good in wetlands, tall grasses, and environments adjacent to water. It's a highly adaptable pattern meaning that in just about any built-up environment with lots of obstacles or flora it’s actually quite effective. 

But… Come on, what’s with the bright blue? From the looks of it, this is the opposite of camo, it’s identifiable.

In the 90s, differently colored variants of the Russian VSR camo family were deliberately given to various MVD (Internal Security Forces) units as an identifying camo for their unit. This was also primarily the time that a tiger stripe pattern emerged in use on many of these special units. Presenting itself as an "Urban" version of tiger stripe, blue Kamysh would be a popular spinoff that would be used until MVD Police reorganization in 2016.

The most notable users of blue Kamysh were "OMON", a paramilitary police force operating within the MVD. The MVD are Russia's internal security forces — Think the FBI, DEA, IRS, Homeland Security, and a few other agencies here in the US rolled into one. These forces commonly use commercial camouflages to avoid direct association with Russia's primary military forces for better or for worse. 

Involved in counter-terror and riot policing operations the paramilitary force OMON has had its hands in a litany of armed conflicts sporting their Тигр (tiger) stripes. Curiously, they even adopted the Siberian tiger as a primary symbol of their forces for its symbology of strength, agility and ferocity.

Infamously, Ukranian "Berkut" units were also seen wearing a suspiciously similar blue tiger stripe during Ukraine's revolution of dignity.

So maybe, the blue variety was never meant to be a "camo" to begin with? 

To their credit, because of its garish aesthetics it’s become recognizable even here in the west, particularly from a photo that has circulated Airsoft forums for nearly a decade. Allegedly taken during a milsim west event it’s gained legendary status for the OMON outfit and Mockba shoes on the wearer who’s doing a flying jump kick door entry.

while we didn’t magically stumble upon a mythical mountain of Russian OMON surplus outfits, we did make something that you might actually wear every day — a killer tracksuit combo in Kamysh camo, made in Uzbekistan.

We consulted our favorite slavs behind the making of our gorka suits and we’ve once again achieved perfection with the all-important stripes included. 

Specs

• Made in Uzbekistan for KS Sport
• Includes jacket & pants
• 100% Polyester
• Classic "Slav Tracksuit" Fit & Feel
• Sewn on double-stripes on jacket & pants
• Elastic cuffs & hem
• Elastic waistband with interior drawcord
• Zipped hand & waist pockets