I called Vltor and spoke with them, so I guess it’s “guy on the internet” to anyone who isn’t me.
I was told a date a couple of weeks from when I called (well over a month ago), and other people have allegedly been told similar whenever they speak with Vltor.
what were you inquiring about? by the way, i’m asking this because if there’s a disconnect between what someone at vltor is telling you vs. what is the real story, they need to be aware of it.
I asked when the VIS-KM would be produced and shipped. I forget who answered the phone, and even if I had not, I am not about throwing people under the bus. The official e-mail I got from Vltor states that the release date is unknown. I just re-read my e-mails.
WS6 - i wasn’t asking for anyone’s name; just wanted to get the information correct and make sure that it’s not a matter of misinterpretation. someone saying ‘a couple of weeks’ is different than ‘after the 1st of the year’. ‘a couple of weeks’ means just that. ‘after the 1st of the year’ can mean anytime after that and beyond.
here’s some background that i’ve mentioned briefly before, that explains what’s happening with vltor’s production. vltor is owned by abrams airborne manf, which is a major supplier to defense contractors like BAE, general dynamics, milkor, etc. all these take priority over vltor production unfortunately. this is something vltor has no say over. abrams is a family owned business, and the family makes those decisions and is in charge of purchasing. so, when vltor needs to get stuff made or purchase parts/material etc, that goes through abrams.
say vltor needs X machine time and money to produce 1000 VIS’s. abrams sees it as internal money being spent. they make the parts then vltor has to sell it. purchase orders from large companies mean that the products are already ‘sold’, which is why vltor keeps getting bumped down the chain. again, this is NOT a vltor decision, it’s abrams.
what about outsourcing? vltor has done that as well. however, due to outside vendors themselves not being able to meet promised delivery dates and quality issues, abrams has taken the stance ‘we’ll do it all in-house to ensure quality’. that’s fine, except that they never get around to vltor.
so, if you’ve been waiting for vltor to release new products, so have vltor. it’s been very frustrating for vltor to introduce a new design like the KM and be the last one on the block to produce it. abrams is just not allocating the resources to vltor that it needs.
vltor is a good money-maker for abrams which is even more puzzling. vltor is like a red-headed stepchild - vltor gets the rug pulled out from under them frequently.
this is why vltor has no official promised release dates on their new products. if you heard something different, it was incorrect.
The exact words were “Before the end of the month”, as best I recall. Maybe it was “by the end of the month”. That was not this month.
I was aware of Vltor’s ties to Abrams, but not the implications thereof. To put it bluntly, that sucks for them. I bet they ARE frustrated.
that estimate was definitely in error, for the KM. unfortunately, vltor’s hands are tied, and this kind of stuff definitely makes them look bad. vltor wants nothing more than to produce what they’ve designed, in a timely manner.