Better armor, helmets expected soon

[unhappycamper]

Lance Cpl. Naoto Nakamura, a scout team leader with Charlie Co., 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion scans a village on the other side of a canal, May 31. Initial plans called for the Corps to purchase 38,500 new helmets early this year, but the test failures pushed that timeline back.


Better armor, helmets expected soon
By Amy McCullough - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jun 10, 2010 16:40:56 EDT

Marines downrange could be wearing tougher, better fitting helmets and body armor by Spring 2011, a top acquisitions officer told members of the defense industry outside Washington on May 25.

The Enhanced Combat Helmet, which officials say will be capable of stopping a rifle round, should enter its next testing phase in the coming weeks, said Lt. Col. A.J. Pasagian, head of Infantry Combat Equipment at Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. All five test models — made by four companies — failed to provide adequate protection from bullets, blunt force or both during initial tests conducted in September, but Pasagian said he is “cautiously optimistic” that upgraded models will prove more successful.

The new helmet, which will be fielded by the Army as well as the Corps, will provide at least 35 percent more protection against fragmentation and small-arms fire than existing Kevlar helmets, Pasagian said. With enemy snipers rivaling IEDs as the chief threat facing U.S. troops in combat, officials have said they want this new head gear to stop a 7.62mm round, the caliber of ammunition used in AK47 assault rifles favored by insurgents.

Marines in Afghanistan report that although enemy snipers usually work solo, “Taliban fire teams” have been known to ambush them, often with three insurgents firing simultaneously from different positions.

The Marine-led effort to develop the ECH has locked onto the possibilities of a durable, lightweight plastic known as ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene, Pasagian said last summer. The material is used commercially in everything from artificial hip replacements to police body armor, he said.



unhappycamper comment: According to the article, Federal Prison Industries didn't get the contract. Of course they may end up as subcontractors....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8428272

[Vinca]

1. Well . . . isn't that special? We'll be able to stay longer and kill more.

The fucking helmet money should have been spent on health clinics in the United States.:mad:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Military families, and especially those with loved ones in harms way thank you for your caring

[Vinca]

3. Obviously my meaning was that we should not be there and,

that being the case, their loved ones would not be in peril.