U.S. military testing out Halo-like helmets

Revision, a ballistic eyewear company, has expanded its line of protective gear by taking a standard U.S. Army helmet and adding a ballistic visor and mandible offering 9-mm protection to it. The result is a helmet that protects the soldier’s head, neck, and face, and looks a lot like that which is used in the popular video game, “Halo.” 

The helmet is the result of four years of research performed at the Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center. Falling under the title “Helmet Electronics and Display System-Upgradeable Protection,” or HEaDS-UP for short, the purpose of the project is to provide the modern-day solider with a more integrated headgear system.

The team assigned this task believe they could create better headgear by making greater use of improved ballistic materials, nonballistic impact linear materials and designs, transparent as well as heads-up display technologies, and better eye, face, and hearing protection. 

Revision recently displayed their HEaDS-UP helmet at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference. While exact specifications of the technologies were not made available (Revision is one of several companies developing this type of helmet for the Army to test), it was revealed that headgear’s display features integrated electronics in the helmet, a heads-up display powered by an Android phone, and a pneumatic linear system that meets the 14-feet / second impact requirement to reduce traumatic brain injuries. 

“You traditionally had helmets where people velcro-ed [or] duct-taped on components,” explains Brian Dowling, Revision’s Military Program Manager and Army special operations veteran. “The HEaDS-UP program has really taken head protection to the next step for Natick.”

Story via: kitup.military.com