David Loebsack  |  Health.mil

March 09, 2010

A new, stronger, more lightweight combat helmet is currently being developed by Department of Defense (DoD) contractors in a joint Marine Corps and Army effort. The Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH), which may eventually replace the Army’s Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) and the Marine Corps’ Lightweight Helmet, is planned to offer service members unparalleled head protection on the battlefield.

The ECH, which has been in the research and development phase since 2008, began with a $1 million budget and a standard series of tests on new ballistic materials. But because DoD researchers discovered new, highly durable thermoplastics that have the potential to stop select small arms rounds, Congress has substantially increased the program’s funding – to $10 million in 2009, and $8 million in 2010.

“When we discovered these potentially breakthrough results during the preliminary [research and development], we briefed our leadership,” said Lt. Col. A.J. Pasagian, the head of the Marine Corps’ infantry combat equipment program. “They immediately stated that it was an ‘urgent and moral imperative’ and tasked us to establish this program.”

Once complete, the ECH would look very much like its Kevlar cousins. Through feedback from Marines, program managers have adopted the shape of the ACH in order to promote better peripheral vision and hearing functionality.

But shape is the only thing the ECH and its predecessors would have in common. For starters, the ECH will offer close to 35 percent more protection from ballistic and fragmentation threats than its most advanced predecessors – helping to mitigate penetrating brain injuries in the future.

Hopefully, the ECH will begin fielding soon. During flat-panel testing during late 2008 and early 2009, some materials showed a promising success rate. In September 2009, researchers began forming helmet molds and conducting the first rounds of developmental testing. Unfortunately, none of those results met DoD’s expectations.

These initial failures led research teams to revise the ongoing test strategies, and in December 2009 the test results were analyzed. Last month a new testing plan was put into place.

Currently, four contracting firms are working on five different material solutions to meet the specifications set forth by Pasagian and the Army project managers who are working with him. If they can provide a product that passes muster, Congress has promised $40 million in funding to provide the Marine Corps with 38,5000 new helmets. The Army would need roughly 200,000.

“Hopefully, we’ll start shooting sometime between the spring and summer of 2010,” Pasagian said. “Although,” he added, “it is way too premature to say when we’ll start producing.”

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