Mk 7 helmet

A Royal Marine from 40 Commando wearing a Mk 7 helmet, and Mk 3 Osprey body armour, in Sangin, Afghanistan.

The Mk 7 helmet is the current general issue combat helmet of the British Armed Forces supplied by NP Aerospace. Officially known as the GS (General Service) Mark 7 combat helmet. It is now replacing the previous Mk 6A helmet and Mk 6 helmet, introduced in 2005 and 1982 respectively.

The Mk 7 helmet was introduced in June 2009 as an UOR (urgent operational requirement). The new helmet offers the same ballistic protection as the Mk6A helmet, but its new shape allows a soldier to lie flat and shoot straight, without the rear rim digging into his body armour and tipping the front rim over his eyes.[1]

The Mk 7 helmet is lighter than its predecessor – 1 kg instead of 1.5 kg for the Mark 6 helmet – and has better chin strapping for stability. It is produced in a new colour - tan, unlike the Mk 6A in black and Mk 6 in olive. It has been adopted for use in Afghanistan.

The ballistic protection is measured with V50 and for the Mk 7 it is about 650 m/s.

The Mk 7 helmet is being replaced by the Revision Military Batlskin Cobra Plus helmet as part of the Virtus program.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Ministry of Defence - New helmets and armour for troops in Afghanistan". Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  2. ↑ "REVISION TO SUPPLY STATE-OF-THE ART, COBRA PLUS HEAD PROTECTION SYSTEM FOR UK TROOPS". Retrieved 2015-09-18.
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