The Development of China’s Military Cambat Helmets from china-defense-mashup.com
By chinasecurityblog. Filed in Uncategorized |
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Mar.16 (released by China Military Power Mashup) — A combat helmet has been an essential part of military kit from ancient times. What about the combat helmet in active service in China?
NEW-GENERATION NON-METAL HELMET
For much of the time since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) did not use an indigenously designed helmet because of the poverty and backwardness of China and its industry. It only used helmets captured during previous wars. As a result many soldiers not wearing helmets suffered head and neck wounds during the Korean War (1950-1953). The number accounted for more than half of the total Chinese casualties in the war. China didn’t successfully develop its first generation of ballistic helmet the GK80 steel helmet until the 1970s.
GK80 helmet
The GK80 helmet is made of bulletproof steel and the ballistic protection performance was on a par with then-current Western models. More importantly, the GK80 is quite cheap, ideal for big production runs. However, troops complained it was not comfortable. Other shortcomings were exposed during combat use it had a small protection area and could fragment when hit, causing further injuries. The GK80 was outdated compared with the non-metal combat helmet equipping the armies of the U.S. and Britain.
In June 1991, the Quartermaster Institute of the General Logistics Department of the PLA started to develop a new non-metal ballistic combat helmet. The army’s requirements were: bulletproof area and ballistic protection performance to equal GK80 but with a lighter weight. However, Zhou Guotai, director of the institute and academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, insisted that the design of a new-generation combat helmet should aim to be as good as the U.S. army’s. Therefore, a higher standard had been set: besides meeting the standard about weight and bulletproof area, the overall ballistic protection performance should exceed that of the Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops (PASGT) helmet used by the U.S. military.
QGF02 Aramid Fiber helmet
China’s first generation non-metal combat helmet —QGF02 Aramid Fiber helmet was successfully developed in 1994 after four years of research. The QGF02 helmet was issued to the PLA Hong Kong military in 1997 and later issued to other important military units. A series of improvements has been made to the helmet.
THREE INDICES OF THE NEW HELMET
There are three hard indices to evaluate a combat helmet’s quality: ballistic protection performance, bulletproof area and the helmet’s weight.
The ballistic protection performance is extremely important as it decides the helmet’s essential quality. The V50 measurement should be introduced here. V50 is a military measurement of ballistic protection at which 50% of projectiles (l.lg, 22 Caliber, 17 grain fragment simulated projectile) are stopped, and 50% penetrate. V50 equals the average impact velocity of the projectiles. Briefly speaking, the higher the V50 is, the better the fragmentation resistance performance the helmet has.
The V50 of China’s QGF02 helmet is 630 m/s, while the PASGT helmet is 609 m/s, German’s active helmet 620 m/s and NATO’s aramid fiber helmet 487 m/s.
the improved QGF03 helmet
The bulletproof area is also an important index. The QGF02 helmet’s bulletproof area is 1,266 square centimeters, 16 percent more than the GK80, almost equaling the PASGT helmet’s. According to the experience of several wars since World Warl, limbs are the most vulnerable part of the body, then the head and then the chest and belly. However, a hit in the head is the most deadly. That’s why all the helmet designers have been trying their best to enlarge the protective area of the helmet under the precondition of ensuring ballistic protection performance.
The helmet’s weight should be lighter. The QGF02 weighs 1.25 kilograms, lighter than the 1.36-kilo GK80 steel helmet. It is well balanced between weight and protective performance. The small PASGT helmet weighs 1.5 kilograms, and the middle-sized, which is more widely used, is 1.59 kilograms.
The manufacturing of aramid fiber helmet is complicated. The plurality of layers of aramid fiber materials, which have been cut and coated with resin, should be pressed in a mould. The resin should be well distributed. The pressed layers should neither be too tight, nor too loose.
DESIGNING FEATURES OF THE NEW HELMET
Currently, the non-metal combat helmet mainly uses nylon-reinforced resin, glass fiber and aramid fiber as fragmentation resistance materials. Compared with the first two, the aramid fiber’s manufacturing cost is higher, however, aramid fiber of the same weight may provide two to three times the protective capability of other fibers and five times that of bulletproof steel. Therefore, aramid fiber is the best choice for volume produce of personal protective system after comprehensive consideration of all factors including cost and weight. However, the aramid fiber also has a shortcoming —its protective performance will decline after long-time exposure to ultraviolet radiation or in a highly humid environment. Therefore, the aramid fiber helmet often has a cover.
Actually, aramid fiber is not as good as some new types of bulletproof materials, for example, the high elasticity module polyethylene (HEMP) fiber, in terms of protective performance. The HEMP fiber, with a lower density and higher intensity than aramid fiber, is the one with the best mechanical capability at present. In recent years, the materials made of HEMP have also been applied for making helmets and ballistic vests, however, it still cannot be widely used because of high cost and technical difficulties.
Although the China-made QGF02 helmet is made of almost the same materials as the American PASGT helmet, it’s not a simple copycat. A new manufacturing technology has been used. It can cut cost, ensure quality, as well as extend the service life of the mould.
The QGF02 is free-sized as the helmet was designed with a special structure according to human body engineering. It’s also designed to suit the skull characteristics of Eastern people.
The suspended basket system is another characteristic of the new-generation helmet. The QGF02 helmet changed the “two-point fixation” of the PASGT helmet to a”three-point gallus fixation”, which can make a proper gap between the shell and head to ensure good ventilation and to effectively reduce the kinetic energy impact.
CHINA-MADE HELMET IN CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT
The successful development of the QGF02 aramid fiber helmet totally changed the less-developed situation of the PLA’s personnel protection and filled the blank of the PLA in the field of non-metal fragmentation protection helmets. However, the QGF02 is not perfect, for example, it doesn’t have interface and electrical outlets for external electrical equipment, which cannot meet the requirement for the future information war.
According to the advice and suggestions of soldiers and officers, the researchers developed the QGF02 into a new digitalized helmet, which has the functions of communication, observation and line-of-sight instrument verification.
The differences between Chinese and India Helmets
In October, 2000, the new helmet made its debut with PLA special troops in a technical achievement display in the suburbs of Beijing.
In 2005, the improved QGF03 helmet began to be issued to the military. The production cost has been cut compared with QGF02 and the quality control of QGF03 is more steady.
Xinhua News Agency reported on Jan. 15, 2006 that Zhou Guotai’s team had successfully developed helmets for infantry, paratroops, armored forces and helicopter pilots. They also developed a multifunctional combat helmet, with bone conduction receiver, laser protective glass, single eye night vision device, head-worn display system and laser warning device on it.
With the development of China’s economy, science and technology, domestic-made new helmet will be continuously improved. The information technology level will also be enhanced. The China-made helmet will help the Chinese soldier to better defend his country.
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Tags: Aramid, ballistic helmet, Britain, China, combat, combat helmet, Fiber, helmet, Hong Kong, korean war 1950, metal helmet, neck wounds, protection, U.S.
