The Army Is Testing Cutting Edge, Halo-Like Helmets

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Would this be a case of form following fashion or life imitating art? In either case, the US Army is testing the possibilities of the Halo-inspired combat helmet complete with the HEaDS-UP display, featuring integrated electronics for a definite battlefield advantage.
 
I have to wonder how heavy it is. What all that garbage does to your situational awareness...
 
Of course they are. Gotta keep that military-industrial jobs program fed with more toys we'll never use
 
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I just don't see this project succeeding, mostly because of the costs involved.

Can you imagine the cost involved for purchasing and maintaining such helmets for at least tens of thousands of soldiers?
 
I wonder if the built in comm system works halo style?

Solider says: "Contact, 400m east"
Halo Helmet says in the voice of a squeaky 14 year old: "FUCK YOU BITCH! ILL RAPE YOUR MOTHER YOU SHITFUCKING HOMO!!!!!!!!"
 
HFBallad said:
I just don't see this project succeeding, mostly because of the costs involved.

Can you imagine the cost involved for purchasing and maintaining such helmets for at least tens of thousands of soldiers?
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This already exists and is in use.
 
More government waste. Whats is our military spending? More than 7-8 other top spenders combined?
Whats more money to borrow from someone else...
 
What advantage? Having such a big-ass helmet is more likely to get you shot because it's clunky and you'll react slower.

HUD technologies are best integrated in some form of eye wear.
 
Health monitors? Does a real human being really need a health monitor? I think they pretty much know how much "health" they have left! lol
 
ZenDragon said:
Health monitors? Does a real human being really need a health monitor? I think they pretty much know how much "health" they have left! lol
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Yes!
I've always wanted a health monitor (but all the data hospitals can give us right now) I could wear semi-permanently. If my car, computer, credit to debt ratio, etc, are monitored so should my flesh vehicle, it's the most important one. I should have spare parts too.:eek:

Then again I also want my head cut off upon death (it's cheaper this way) and frozen until I can be brought back as a futuristic cyborg. Version 11 or above though, no fucking beta testing with me.
 
ZenDragon said:
Health monitors? Does a real human being really need a health monitor? I think they pretty much know how much "health" they have left! lol
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I think the idea is that a central command can watch a whole squad. If one squad members heart rate spikes, or worse; then they can decide which other members need to know that information. The idea is to provide the team with the most relevant information, without overloading them.

In theory these systems are supposed to save money, but I've never actually seen one that is even remotely usable. Most just get left behind in the humvee.
 
And yet we can't offer better bullet proof armor to our troops first?
I'm pretty sure I'd rather have my arms, legs and nads impervious to small weapons fire than a HUD with a yellow arrow and a distorted female voice telling me "Target 15 clicks north, current bearing south, rotate 180 degrees and resume brisk walk in order to reach objective."
 
ZenDragon said:
Health monitors? Does a real human being really need a health monitor? I think they pretty much know how much "health" they have left! lol
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Depends on how far they're willing to take the "super soldier" thing.

If you juice up a human being on steroids and painkillers, they will most certainly need some other mechanism to assess their current physical condition.
 
Just wait guys, there will be new computer geek soldiers in the back who try to hack the other side's helmets... Instead of a HALO looking display the geeks hack a nasty video of two dudes gettin funky in bed or something that will make the other side take their helmets off.
 
HFBallad said:
I just don't see this project succeeding, mostly because of the costs involved.

Can you imagine the cost involved for purchasing and maintaining such helmets for at least tens of thousands of soldiers?
Click to expand...

First as others have pointed out these types of systems are already in use in other tasks in the military.

Also just because these are insanely expensive today doesn't mean they will be so in the future. When I was in the army in the early 80's we had to sign our life away to draw night vision goggles for operations because ones I used were $40k a pair and as such were rarely used by us grunts, but of course they allowed those few of us who did use them to be far more effective then we could have been otherwise (that is actually when I was given the handle DarkStar because I thrived on night ops.)

Today far better night vision gear can be had for a small fraction of what those sets cost and as the price has decreased their use in the field has increased.


Droc said:
I wonder if the built in comm system works halo style?

Solider says: "Contact, 400m east"
Halo Helmet says in the voice of a squeaky 14 year old: "FUCK YOU BITCH! ILL RAPE YOUR MOTHER YOU SHITFUCKING HOMO!!!!!!!!"
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LOL!


H-Money said:
ODST Helmets would make more sense.
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I was thinking more of a standard helmet with either a Google Glass type visor or goggles.
 
Screw all that, Duke had no helmet, only sunglasses, with a clean, white wife-beater and tight tight jeans equipped with women in each arm and RPGs on hand. All you need.
 
For the basement dwellers, a helmet with a usable HUD would be awesome for situational awarness.

Cost always decreases with time, so in the future these might be cheap enough for issue. Consider the fact that Aimpoint's/EoTech's are now standard issue. Along with expensive night vision, IR lasers etc.

For those saying "welfare-warfare"..........its their job to maintain battlefield superiority. Get lazy during this day and age and in a few years an opponent will have Iron Man and we wont ;)
 
MrGoodbar said:
Screw all that, Duke had no helmet, only sunglasses, with a clean, white wife-beater and tight tight jeans equipped with women in each arm and RPGs on hand. All you need.
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"Hey Duke! Got your green power armor here!"
"Power armor is for pussies!"
"O K.... you want a gun instead?"
:D
 
SGA76 said:
And yet we can't offer better bullet proof armor to our troops first?
I'm pretty sure I'd rather have my arms, legs and nads impervious to small weapons fire than a HUD with a yellow arrow and a distorted female voice telling me "Target 15 clicks north, current bearing south, rotate 180 degrees and resume brisk walk in order to reach objective."
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The US military has issued body armor, crotch plates, etc. to front line soldiers for years. They had the PASGT since the 1980's and was replaced by the interceptor armor mid 2000's.

As far as "bulletproof" armor is concerned, you can only do so much. Add too much armor, then they can't move due to weight or sheer size. At some point the bullets are so large and hit with so much force that it would kill just from impact trauma not actual penetration. The only thing you can do at that point is create the mythical Iron Man armor.
 
thebufenator said:
For the basement dwellers, a helmet with a usable HUD would be awesome for situational awarness.

Cost always decreases with time, so in the future these might be cheap enough for issue. Consider the fact that Aimpoint's/EoTech's are now standard issue. Along with expensive night vision, IR lasers etc.

For those saying "welfare-warfare"..........its their job to maintain battlefield superiority. Get lazy during this day and age and in a few years an opponent will have Iron Man and we wont ;)
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Well personally I'm not sure the average foot soldier needs situational awareness beyond the immediate area/threat because beyond that anything more simply becomes a distraction. Sure it would be great for those leading a squad/platoon/company, because those are the ones who need the wider situational awareness (as do smaller specialty units.)

I fighting man will man a position and defend it against anyone who comes into his coverage zone, but IMO will be more likely to break if they can see that an entire enemy company is heading toward his position and once one breaks it not only threatens everyone else, but it makes them more likely to break and run themselves.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
The US military has issued body armor, crotch plates, etc. to front line soldiers for years. They had the PASGT since the 1980's and was replaced by the interceptor armor mid 2000's.

As far as "bulletproof" armor is concerned, you can only do so much. Add too much armor, then they can't move due to weight or sheer size. At some point the bullets are so large and hit with so much force that it would kill just from impact trauma not actual penetration. The only thing you can do at that point is create the mythical Iron Man armor.
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Exactly, that makes me think of the entire outrage because they don't have enough "armored Humvees" and/or that the Humvees don't have enough armor."

People tend to forget that Humvees aren't, and never were meant to be, APCs or IFVs. The Humvee was a replacement for the jeep not the M113.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Well personally I'm not sure the average foot soldier needs situational awareness beyond the immediate area/threat because beyond that anything more simply becomes a distraction. Sure it would be great for those leading a squad/platoon/company, because those are the ones who need the wider situational awareness (as do smaller specialty units.)

I fighting man will man a position and defend it against anyone who comes into his coverage zone, but IMO will be more likely to break if they can see that an entire enemy company is heading toward his position and once one breaks it not only threatens everyone else, but it makes them more likely to break and run themselves.
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I think you underestimate the testicular fortitude of soldiers :cool:
 
Why cant they make bulletproof armed forces clothes? I mean people can buy shirt and pants made of kevlar one would think this would be something to look more into having some protection is better then no protection...
 
ServerKing said:
Why cant they make bulletproof armed forces clothes? I mean people can buy shirt and pants made of kevlar one would think this would be something to look more into having some protection is better then no protection...
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Kevlar != no injuries if shot.

There is plenty of development going on for flexible armor though.
 
the LandWarrior program already had this capability with a goggle retrofit. Full enclosure helmets don't work well for ground warfare - sweat, fogging, etc.
I highly doubt there will be a full helmet system.
 
thebufenator said:
I think you underestimate the testicular fortitude of soldiers :cool:
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Not at all, and although I am ex-military I also don't believe that soldiers are unstoppable supermen. Just as with any profession you will run across all types of people in units and while I think most would stand their ground as long as humanly possibly, even they would be more likely to fall back and give ground if others around them were "advancing to the rear."


bloodypulp said:
the LandWarrior program already had this capability with a goggle retrofit. Full enclosure helmets don't work well for ground warfare - sweat, fogging, etc.
I highly doubt there will be a full helmet system.
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Not to mention they restrict all of your vision, hearing and sense of smell.
 
Can you imagine the cost involved for purchasing and maintaining such helmets for at least tens of thousands of soldiers?

Na, it's not so many, it's just for the front line guys, not the cooks and shit. You'd be surprised how many support troops are used to keep a couple thousand combat types in the field.

Like they said, it'll be a modification to a standard helmet so it's an add on, not a whole new helmet. the electronics amount to carrying a smart phone inside the add on. What I would be wondering is with that vizor and the extra armor coverage, how hot is that fucking thing going to be to wear? It sure ain't going to come with an air conditioner built in.

As for this...
And yet we can't offer better bullet proof armor to our troops first?
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I hope you aren't resurrecting that DragonSkin bullshit. If you are then it's cause you no nothing about materials procurement and besides, that stuff didn't test out so special anyway.
 
I mean people can buy shirt and pants made of kevlar
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Umm, because Kevlar in thicknesses to stop a bullet aren't wearable anymore and if they are thin enough to be wearable then they don't stop bullets. Shit the body armor we had was Kevlar and we still needed those heavy fucking sapi plates for real protection.

And there is an argument that being better aware of your surroundings and the tactical situation can keep you from getting shot in the first place which is better then the best armor going.

But the best answer ... Soldiers are busy trying to re-learn conventional warfare these days. The last 11 years were fun, but it's back to the basics and they have more then enough to catch up on. It's almost funny but as an institution the Army has almost completely forgotten how to fight a regular stand up force on force fight. It's a little scary if you think about it cause right now the Generals are crying that they don't have the money and will have to commit thousands of their soldiers to support duties that used to be done by contracted labor, like guard duty, working in the Dinning Facilities, etc. I think it's going to be a whole lot of etc cause soldiers used to do some of this in the past, they called these extra duties, but this is different because they are talking about possibly up to six month long assignments in the 18,000 soldiers range, that's more then a full combat divisions strength on permanent detail.
I wouldn't want none of that BS, and they say it's cause they aren't getting the money they need and that they also won't be able to train anything but basic skills, no group training at the unit level. looks like they will not be re-learning how to fight a real war any time soon. I have seen this before BTW, the Army after that jackass peanut farmer cut all it's funding.

Thank God we bluffed the Russian's into thinking they couldn't win a conventional fight without resorting to WMDs cause the threat of Nucs was all that kept the USSR from taking all of Europe all the way to the Med. Our projection in those years was two weeks and they would be sitting on the Riviera with little umbrella drinks.
 
"Blah blah blah enemy has Iron Man"

Yeah too bad we don't have thousands of weapons capable of destroying cities to dissuade an enemy in a metal suit.
 
Aluisious said:
"Blah blah blah enemy has Iron Man"

Yeah too bad we don't have thousands of weapons capable of destroying cities to dissuade an enemy in a metal suit.
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Yes, nuke a city because an enemy is in a metal suit....lol.
Love the logic.
 
Aluisious said:
"Blah blah blah enemy has Iron Man"

Yeah too bad we don't have thousands of weapons capable of destroying cities to dissuade an enemy in a metal suit.
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Didn't you watch The Avengers? They tried to nuke Iron Man. They failed.
 
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