Blackhawk was founded in 1993 by former Navy Seal Mike Noell. Black hawks meticulous obsession with quality has made it the specials ops gear of choice of SpecOps teams worldwide. While operating within northern Iraq he had to make way by foot through an enemy minefield. One of his packs failed, dumping his gear onto the mine ridden ground. "If I get out of this alive, I will make this stuff the way it needs to be built so none of my buddies have to go through this," he remarked to another operator. Upon entering the private sector that is exactly what he did, making Blackhawk gear and packs in a garage and growing ever since.