New Full Face Combat Helmets?

No matter how many times the grunts on the ground say they're not interested, there's always someone trying to wrap them up in heavier, hotter armor.

The new full face helmet for combat weighs 1 and a half pounds and will stop .44 magnum bullet.

Replace the camo pants and jacket with a spider-wire mesh supporting ballistic plates, and replace that stoopid AR with a proper shoulder-mounted plasma cannon, and you've got yourself a right-dandy Predator look-alike.

It's far overdue, from the standpoint of maximum attainable coolness.

Of course, if you're the guy who actually has to run around and get shot at while wearing the stupid bucket helmet, it sucks. The weight isn't the problem, but I imagine the stuffyness and restricted movement/fov would suck quite enough.

Sure does look nifty though.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Replace the camo pants and jacket with a spider-wire mesh supporting ballistic plates, and replace that stoopid AR with a proper shoulder-mounted plasma cannon, and you've got yourself a right-dandy Predator look-alike.

It's far overdue, from the standpoint of maximum attainable coolness.

Of course, if you're the guy who actually has to run around and get shot at while wearing the stupid bucket helmet, it sucks. The weight isn't the problem, but I imagine the stuffyness and restricted movement/fov would suck quite enough.

Sure does look nifty though.

I'm sure if the 44 magnum claim is true, then they can surely develope another one to accomidate for head movement/vision problems. I like the way it looks... Very intimidating.

www.mtekweaponsystems.com...

Still too big in my view. Hope they could make it smaller and compact like the last pic I posted on the bottom. First pic is first gen.
Second pic, 2nd gen.
If you have a grudge against the officers, at least they can't see what you are doing with your mouth to them, like sticking your tongue.



Other helmets with facemask to consider.





[edit on 6-2-2006 by deltaboy]

I play some airsoft every now and then, and I once tryed one of those full face masks they use with paintball. I must say, its a pain in the ass to look through your red dot with such a monster on your face, and those masks are a lot smaller then the masks I've seen here. On the other hand, you feel a little more certain with one on your face. As with all tech, I guess these masks will get compacter in time, making it more comfterable to aim. They do look menacing tho.

Having a Dual military training as a Recon patrol leader and as a Assault team leader i'd say i love it and hate it

If i was issud that to a recon op, id ditch it the first moment i could

On the other hand if i was ordered to do a sweep in a building possibly held by hostile specops (ie. Spetznaz) i'd be asking for that to give all the protection i could get...

And it DOES look cool

No way would I wear that thing! How can you have full visual/audio abilities with all that strapped to your swede? Also, while the thing may stop some shrapnel hitting your face, the extra weight will increase neck damage. Plus you can't tell me that you can index your weapon properly with all that occluding your cheek.

Too many down sides for my liking.

Seal up those eye holes, include a mic/earphone/spear comm set, mount it on a full suit of heavy armor, augment the entire deal with enough pnumatics/hydraulics to enable the offended soldier to actually move normally, and you might be on to something. Seal the front of the mask entirely, install displays in front of the face to allow visuals, a pair of cameras/IR sensors/Night Vision camreas, and a full self contained enviornmental rig and I'll go into any building to root out anyone you want.

But first, gimme a power supply capable of sustained operations in highly adverse (read "Combat") enviornments.

*edit* oh, and I also want all that at a price that ensures I'll not be asked to do a job by myself normally reserved for entire platoons, just because of budgetary limits.

[edit on 6-2-2006 by Travellar]

It's the wrong color. It should be white

tbh, the use of this with the regular rifleman is prolly not a good idea. However the application of this mask would be advantageous to individuals such as

I KNEW the stormtrooper helmet was coming....I just called it in my head "Any second now...."

Or to troops on Urban assault missions...
Not suitable for prolonged infantry fighting... even though the comppany says it is and has no restrictions to FOV or weapon usage, but i believe when i try it

This helmet was DEVELOPED by one of those "grunts on the ground" after he came back from Iraq. He was concerned by the lack of facial protection after hearing about so many people having facial injuries from IEDs and small arms rounds. I'm sure he knows all about need full visual/auditory ability considering he was over there for a full tour.

BTW, he calls it Predator.

Originally posted by Raideur
I KNEW the stormtrooper helmet was coming....I just called it in my head "Any second now...."

i hear ya buddy..

Originally posted by Zaphod58


BTW, he calls it Predator.

Good name for it as well. Close Resemblance too.




Possible future threats if the soldiers of the human race were to deal with them while wearing future masks.

Interesting design not one I have seen before. If you look hard enough you can purchase stuff like this.

Here you can buy your own version for a scant $385 that will also stop 9mm and .44 Magnum rounds

Tactical ballisitic mask

Threat level III A

developed for special ops teams to save lives while engaging the enemy. It provide shock element and can save your face from fragments and level IIIA ballistic threats.

I have to say your visibility might not be that great though with this. The impact energy of rounds like the .44 mag are crazy the round might not go through the mask but the impact just might break your neck or every bone in your face if it does not absorb the shock very well. Not that it cant be made you just have to plan for more then just stopping the round from going into your face.

Travellar, I believe you just described a battlearmor.

And yeah ,going down this thread the thoughts going through my mind "Why haven't the Storm trooper helmets come up yet?? Ooh, there we go."

Shattered OUT...

This is NOT how you win over the public. Though tactically sound and possibly superior, your making the army look literally like space invaders.

Or robots..

well, powered armor anyhow. I haven't gotten around to building a suit of it myself, because I still haven't figured out how to make the individual armor-grade pieces in my back yard. (in otherwords, it could be a while...)

As for Storm trooper armor, If made of ballistic grade materials, it should actually provide a great deal of protection. I think some of the actors noted poor visibility though. Oh, and a whole suit of that made of something more substantial than plastic just might be a bit too heavy for combat. Still, Lucas got one thing right, you send your troops in to asault an objective, like a shipfull of rebel scum, you do it in a very minimalist fashion. Gun, armor, that's it. you want to build a comm set or rebreather into the armor? Fine, but make it small.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
This helmet was DEVELOPED by one of those "grunts on the ground" after he came back from Iraq. He was concerned by the lack of facial protection after hearing about so many people having facial injuries from IEDs and small arms rounds. I'm sure he knows all about need full visual/auditory ability considering he was over there for a full tour.

At the moment we Brits are trying out some new enhanced combar body armour (ECBA) in Iraq, which increases neck and upper arm protection. I tried it recently on my last tour. I hated it with a vengence, as did everyone else in my platoon. It was too heavy and hot for anything more than static duties, eg top cover on a snatch land rover. Wearing something like this thing over my face would be like hell on earth in the heats that we were fighting in. I believe that the only realistic application would be top cover.

I stand by my statement about audio and visual restrictions. Even wearing a wooly hat over your ears restrict your hearing too much. Wearing thiss thing would make it too hard to identify where rounds are coming from because of sound wave displacement, a big enough problem in built-up areas. The human ear is designed to work best with nothing occluding it.