Army Needs a New Helmet for Domestic Terrorism Control
The U.S. Army offers to purchase a newly designed helmet. This helmet must be special. It must be all-purpose. Lighter. Stylish. And, most important, when the Army is redeployed from Afghanistan to (say) Chicago, the helmet must be just as good there. This is part of the new mobile army, a strike force for all seasons.
Here is the public document that asks for bids. I have bold faced the crucial sections.
Notice, these are not called helmets. They are “head protection ensembles.” Yes, ensembles. I can see it now. A line of soldiers in various uniforms walking down the runway. Not an airport runway. A runway for models showing off their latest ensembles.
1. The Government is issuing this RFI to collect information for the development and production of a head protection ensemble that will be part of the Soldier Protection System (SPS). This head protection ensemble is planned to replace the current helmet system. The SPS will provide the Soldier multiple levels of ballistic protection that can be tailored to select mission profiles and protection against specific threats from conventional fragmenting munitions, small arms ammunition, and blunt impact. Soldiers equipped with the SPS will be able to accomplish a broad range of missions. The versatility of the system will enable the Soldier to quickly transition from one mission type to another without degrading the momentum of small unit operations. The SPS will protect Soldiers involved in major combat operations, stability operations, homeland security operations, joint operating concepts, and the joint force functional concept.
This makes sense to me. Our troops are fighting terrorism over there, so that they won’t have to fight it over here. But our troops are scheduled to be pulled out of Afghanistan in 2014. So, they will have to be ready to fight terrorism over here.
So, the Army needs a new headgear ensemble. “One size fits all missions.”
Whether it’s in Kabul or Chicago, these sleek new headgear ensembles must do the job.
So, if you have ideas on how to design an appropriate headgear ensemble, there is an opportunity here.
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Published on August 21, 2012. The original is here.