The A2 Helmet is a standard issued combat helmet of the

Vietnam People's Army Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It was introduced around 2014, the exact date is unknown as the

Vietnamese government The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (), also known as the Vietnamese Government or the Government of Vietnam (), is the executive branch and body of the State administration of Vietnam. The members of the Government are appoi ...

does not publicly share information. They are the standard issued helmet in the

. As the Special Forces,

Border Guards A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In ...

, and

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

use domestically-produced or Israeli imported PASGT Helmets, they only use the A2 Helmets for training exercises.

History

Up until 2014, a majority of the

were still using Pith Helmets. These Pith Helmets also saw significant use during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. Around 2014, the army began to mass-produce these A2 Helmets to replace older equipment in the army, while still being cost-effective. They are now the standard issue helmet commonly used across all branches of the army.

Design

Although the helmet is shaped like a Kevlar helmet, there are no

kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

materials in the helmet. The helmet is made of

Polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through ...

Plastic. It is designed with double-layered plastic cladding that are overlapped, foam lining, and

mesh A mesh is a barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible or ductile materials. A mesh is similar to a web or a net in that it has many attached or woven strands. Types * A plastic mesh may be extruded, oriented, exp ...

fabric on the inside. As it is not bulletproof, its main purpose is as a helmet for training exercises. It does however protect the user against explosive fragments. Therefore, the

PASGT helmet Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops (PASGT, pronounced ) is a combat helmet and ballistic vest that was used by the United States Armed Forces, United States military from the early 1980s until the mid-2000s, when the helmet and vest were s ...

would be used in combat situations. They are commonly clothed with camouflage, or the camouflaged is directly painted on.

References

{{helmets Combat helmets of Vietnam Military equipment introduced in the 2010s