The Mark 7 helmet is the current general issue

combat helmet A combat helmet or battle helmet is a type of helmet. It is a piece of personal armor designed specifically to protect the head during combat. Modern combat helmets are mainly designed to protect from shrapnel and fragments, offer some pro ...

of the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, ...

supplied by NP Aerospace. Officially known as the ''GS (General Service) Mark 7 combat helmet'', it replaced the previous Mark 6A helmet and

Mk 6 helmet The Mk 6 helmet is a type of combat helmet that was the standard of the British Armed Forces as well as another supplied helmet of the UN during peacekeeping operations. The Mk 6 replaced the Mk IV helmet (more correctly titled – Helmet Steel MK ...

, introduced in 2005 and 1982 respectively. The Mark 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 the body armour and tipping the front rim over their eyes. The Mark 7 helmet weights , significantly less than its predecessor. It also has better chin strapping for stability and is produced in a new colour - tan, unlike the Mk 6A in

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

and Mk 6 in

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

. It has been adopted for use in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. The ''mean penetration velocity'' (V₅₀) for the Mk 7 it is about . This is the velocity at which half (50%) of projectiles are expected to penetrate and is a measure of the helmet's ballistic protection. The Mk 7 helmet was replaced by the Revision Military Batlskin Cobra Plus helmet as part of the Virtus programme. In Ukraine in 2014, due to a lack of adequate protection for members of the

Ukrainian Armed Forces , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly know ...

participating in the War in Eastern Ukraine, hundreds of Mk 7 helmets were purchased in the UK and used by Ukrainian servicemen, together with the earlier Mk 6 and Mk 6A.

Users

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References

External links

Personal Armour at army.mod.uk

New helmets 'save' three NI soldiers in Helmand

BBC - UK troops to get new body armour
{{helmets Combat helmets of the United Kingdom Post–Cold War military equipment of the United Kingdom British Army equipment Military equipment introduced in the 2000s