thedrifter
07-28-03, 06:29 AM
Marine Corps getting lighter, tougher helmets
By Patrick J. Dickson, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, July 27, 2003
WASHINGTON — Starting this summer, the Marine Corps will field 43,000 new helmets, a lighter, stronger version of the “Kevlar” helmet used since the early 1980s.
The Marine Corps Lightweight Helmet looks very similar to the current Personnel Armor System, Ground Troops (PASGT) helmet, but is improved in many ways, according to Brad Sutter, project manager for the helmet at manufacturer Gentex Corp.
“What’s really good is the weight versus ballistic performance,” Sutter said.
The helmet’s shell is shaped like the PASGT, but new materials bring a 6 percent improvement in fragmentation protection as well as the ability to stop a direct hit from a 9 mm round, Sutter said. Lab testing showed a 40 percent improvement in impact protection, which also means better durability.
There’s also improvements to G-force resistance.
“There’s several impact performance tests,” Sutter said. “There’s been a 30 percent increase in efficiency for g-forces [encountered during] parachute jumps, when they hit their head on the Tarmac, [and for] getting smacked around in a vehicle.”
Helmet prototypes went through operational testing at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., in 2000 and 2002 during combined arms field exercises and were field-evaluated by Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
“It was one of the highest rated pieces of equipment in the [Marine Corps Operational Test and Evaluation Activity],” according to Jim Mackiewicz, Marine Corps Customer Team leader at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. “To get an 85-90 percent approval rating is almost unheard of.”
Gentex, based in Carbondale, Pa., warrants the helmet for 15 years. The contract is potentially worth $40 million over five years.
Complaints have been voiced about the PASGT interfering with the Interceptor Body Armor, but the solution was more a matter of improving stability, not just reducing size, Mackiewicz said.
By incorporating a four-point retention strap, the helmet is seven times more stable than the PASGT so it won’t rock back and forth or fall off, according to the SBCCOM press release. And though most Marines won’t be jumping out of airplanes, it’s airborne-certified.
The PASGT helmet’s five sizes remain, but Marines can easily adjust headband circumference and height by a half inch with the lightweight helmet’s hook and loop fabric fasteners for a better fit.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=16740
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
By Patrick J. Dickson, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, July 27, 2003
WASHINGTON — Starting this summer, the Marine Corps will field 43,000 new helmets, a lighter, stronger version of the “Kevlar” helmet used since the early 1980s.
The Marine Corps Lightweight Helmet looks very similar to the current Personnel Armor System, Ground Troops (PASGT) helmet, but is improved in many ways, according to Brad Sutter, project manager for the helmet at manufacturer Gentex Corp.
“What’s really good is the weight versus ballistic performance,” Sutter said.
The helmet’s shell is shaped like the PASGT, but new materials bring a 6 percent improvement in fragmentation protection as well as the ability to stop a direct hit from a 9 mm round, Sutter said. Lab testing showed a 40 percent improvement in impact protection, which also means better durability.
There’s also improvements to G-force resistance.
“There’s several impact performance tests,” Sutter said. “There’s been a 30 percent increase in efficiency for g-forces [encountered during] parachute jumps, when they hit their head on the Tarmac, [and for] getting smacked around in a vehicle.”
Helmet prototypes went through operational testing at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., in 2000 and 2002 during combined arms field exercises and were field-evaluated by Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
“It was one of the highest rated pieces of equipment in the [Marine Corps Operational Test and Evaluation Activity],” according to Jim Mackiewicz, Marine Corps Customer Team leader at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass. “To get an 85-90 percent approval rating is almost unheard of.”
Gentex, based in Carbondale, Pa., warrants the helmet for 15 years. The contract is potentially worth $40 million over five years.
Complaints have been voiced about the PASGT interfering with the Interceptor Body Armor, but the solution was more a matter of improving stability, not just reducing size, Mackiewicz said.
By incorporating a four-point retention strap, the helmet is seven times more stable than the PASGT so it won’t rock back and forth or fall off, according to the SBCCOM press release. And though most Marines won’t be jumping out of airplanes, it’s airborne-certified.
The PASGT helmet’s five sizes remain, but Marines can easily adjust headband circumference and height by a half inch with the lightweight helmet’s hook and loop fabric fasteners for a better fit.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=16740
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: