Politics as usual:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. troops routinely face the threat of roadside bombs while fighting insurgencies in Afghanistan. They need the most protective clothing the market can bear, and they're getting it -- for now.
North Carolina State University College of Textiles tests the flammability of different materials at this facility.
Back home, a battle is brewing in Congress over the next lucrative contract for military uniforms. The issue boils down to the raw fiber used in their construction.
Current uniforms are made in the United States, in Georgia, using a fabric called Defender M made by the TenCate company. It is favored by the military for its fire-resistant and breathable properties.
But the fabric is made with a type of rayon imported from Austria -- which normally would violate the military's buy-American requirement.
This specific rayon cannot be produced in the United States for environmental reasons, so Congress passed an amendment allowing it to be temporarily imported. The extension expires, or "sunsets," in 2013, but that year's defense budget is being determined now. The idea of the sunset is to give U.S. manufactures time to come up with a comparable product.
At stake: a defense contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The rest of the article:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/06/military.uniform.contract/index.html