Honeywell delivers combat helmet materials
Honeywell has announced that it has completed the delivery of advanced ballistic materials that will be used in the development of next-generation combat helmets for the US Army. The company made the announcement 15 May, 2012.
Honeywell said it has delivered 218 helmets containing advanced Spectra Shield and Gold Shield ballistic materials that the army will evaluate to help set new helmet performance requirements. The helmets are designed to be 16 to 24 percent lighter than the helmets US soldiers currently wear, and provide increased ballistic and non-ballistic performance against handgun rounds and fragments from improvised explosive devices.
Spectra Shield is manufactured using Honeywell's proprietary shield technology, which bonds parallel strands of Spectra fibre with an advanced resin system. Spectra fibre is made from ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene using a patented gel-spinning process. The fibre exhibits ‘high resistance to chemicals, water and ultraviolet light, and has excellent vibration damping, flex fatigue and internal fibre-friction characteristics’, and has ‘as much as 60 percent greater specific strength than aramid fibre.’
The delivery was made as part of a contract signed with the army in April 2011. The equipment will now be evaluated by the US Army's Programme Executive Office (PEO) Soldier as part of a wider effort to reduce the weight of soldier body armour and increase head protection for greater soldier comfort, mobility and safety in the field.
More from Land Warfare
-
![DSEI 2025: Polaris displays new all-terrain vehicle with Alakran mortar system]()
DSEI 2025: Polaris displays new all-terrain vehicle with Alakran mortar system
The Polaris Government and Defense’s Military RZR (MRZR) Alpha 1KW was displayed at the Modern Day Marine exposition in the US earlier this year and with the Alakran mobile mortar weapon system at DSEI. The company outlined recent firing trials with the Alakran mobile mortar weapon system (MMWS) which was weeks after the company announced a major NATO deal.
-
![The first of 663 BvS10s delivered to Germany, Sweden and the UK]()
The first of 663 BvS10s delivered to Germany, Sweden and the UK
The vehicles are based on the latest version of the BvS10 All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and include variants for troop transport, logistics, medical evacuation, recovery, and command and control. An unarmoured version is being delivered to the US and offered to Canada.
-
![DSEI 2025: Thales creating new remote weapon station and Storm 2 counter-drone jammer]()
DSEI 2025: Thales creating new remote weapon station and Storm 2 counter-drone jammer
Thales launched Storm-H in 2012 as an EW system equipping individual dismounted troops, and a decade later revealed details to develop the improved and more powerful Storm 2.
-
![The integration between drones and land vehicles is accelerating]()
The integration between drones and land vehicles is accelerating
Drones and military ground vehicles are increasingly being designed to operate together as a single platform or even to convert crewed systems to automated ones.
-
![Denmark shuns US platform as it settles on SAMP/T air defence system]()
Denmark shuns US platform as it settles on SAMP/T air defence system
The acquisition, which is part of the country’s broader defence package worth DKK58 billion (US$9.2 billion), goes against the grain with many other European countries opting for the US’s popular Patriot platform.
-
![In depth: Competition for British Army vehicle programme heats up, despite more delays]()
In depth: Competition for British Army vehicle programme heats up, despite more delays
The UK’s Land Mobility Programme (LMP) seems set to be delayed once again but industry is jockeying for position to partner in what would be one of the biggest ever buys for the British Army.
