Star Wars armor has typically been the stuff of cosplayers and airsoft players. Not this time. For their latest installment, the folks at the Star Wars franchise tapped actual gear manufacturers to create actual Mandalorian Armor. Talk about authenticity.
But wait, who are the Mandalorians, again?
In case you need a refresher, they’re a race of nomadic warriors. The infamous Boba Fett of the original Star Wars trilogy was a Mandalorian.
Working under the umbrella name GalacTac Project, the armor was created with input from all the major armor companies that have a stake in the project. This roundtable included AR500, working with Heckler & Koch, SOG Knives & Tools, SureFire, LLC, Team Wendy, Armasight, Inc., TEA Headsets, Wilcox Industries Corp., Metalhead Photography, and Ryan D. Flowers, an artist known for creating airsoft Mandalorian gear, who also contributed to the project.
AR500 manufactures a number of different ballistic plates, so there’s a chance the armor could work and could shrug off a round. There’s no word on what protection it gives from blasters or lightsabers.
Of course, the most famous Mandalorian bounty hunter was brought down when his jetpack was struck with little force from a melee weapon. So maybe it’s not the armor that should worry bounty hunters. In case you forgot, he was then tossed into a Sarlacc pit.
Fett eventually escaped the pit alive, according to George Lucas and a Star Wars historian. That might give hope that maybe the Mandalorian kit is more about protecting users from desert monster stomach acids.
Regardless, don’t expect to get your hands on the armor anytime soon. AR500 has not announced any plans to mass-produce the set. Any decision to do so would likely have to be blessed by Disney, a company that has historically avoided ties to weapons and manufacturing.
