Mk 7 helmet

The Mark 7 helmet is the current general issue combat helmet of the British Armed Forces 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, introduced in 2005 and 1982 respectively.

A Royal Marine from 40 Commando wearing a Mark 7 helmet, and Mark 3 Osprey body armour, in Sangin, Afghanistan.
A Mark VII combat helmet without camouflage cover.

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.[1]

The Mark 7 helmet weights one kilogram (35 oz), significantly less than its 1.5-kilogram (53 oz) predecessor. It also has better chin strapping for stability and is produced in a new colour - tan, unlike the Mk 6A in black and Mk 6 in olive. It has been adopted for use in Afghanistan.

The mean penetration velocity (V50) for the Mk 7 it is about 650 metres per second (2,100 ft/s). This is the velocity at which half (50%) of projectiles are expected to penetrate and is a measure if 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.[2]

In Ukraine in 2014, due to a lack of adequate protection for members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces 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

References
  1. "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Ministry of Defence - New helmets and armour for troops in Afghanistan". Archived from the original on 2012-11-01. Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  2. "Revision to Supply State-of-the-Art Cobra Plus Head Protection System for UK Troops". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
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