After A Long Wait, Indian Army Finally Gets Bullet-Proof Helmets
In the following we will be discussing an important topic that is “After a long wait, the Indian Army finally gets bullet-proof helmets” and will discuss it thoroughly within the article. For a soldier today, a bullet-proof helmet is an important part of his kit that may prove to be the difference between life and death during combat operations. But Indian Army soldiers, who fight in adverse conditions to save lots of lives of fellow countrymen, were deprived of even this basic need.
Indian defense forces have relied on parkas that are worn over outdated infantry helmets to save themselves from enemy fire. But they have severe limitations as they’re bulky and heavy, weighing over 2.5 kgs, and may protect only the forehead and back of the head. Now, there is good news for our soldiers. After a really long time of life-threatening wait, the Indian Army has finally received bullet-proof helmets, recently which may bear the impact even from very short range. Earlier this year, a company located and basically based in Kanpur, MKU Limited, which supplies military equipment to the UN and NATO, was awarded a contract worth of about Rs 180 crore to provide nearly about 1.6 lakh helmets. The company has recently delivered the first tranche.
ET got a chance to visit the manufacturing facilities of MKU in Kanpur and Fatehpur districts of Uttar Pradesh to observe the production of helmets. The bullet-proof helmet has the most protective layer of Kevlar, the material utilized by Batman for his Bat-suit and cape. Although the helmet won’t let our army men do things batman does, it’ll surely save them by bearing the impact of an enemy bullet. The helmets are actually designed to bear the impact of 9 mm ammunition fired from a very short range. This meets the worldwide standard for protection among leading armed forces. They are also designed to be comfortable and maybe integrated with communication and night-vision devices.
Indian Army or defense force has actually ordered the bolted version of bolt-free ballistic helmets. Not as of currently on the Indian Army order list, bolt-free is a higher as well as expensive version of bullet-proof helmets that provides all-round protection from head injuries as helmet bolts increase the risk of injuries because of vibrations produced by the direct impact of a bullet on the helmet.MKU claims that these helmets undergo rigorous quality tests and ballistic lab tests conducted in the company’s testing facilities in India and Germany.
Although the ordered helmets don’t carry the communication device and other equipment like night-vision devices and cameras, the company says the helmets might be improvised to include all these devices in the future. Furthermore, Kanpur-based company, MKU also manufactures integrated mounting system consisting camera and torch, communication as well as night-vision devices that actually make the helmet a unique protective-cum-communication machine.
Riding high on the success of its biggest helmet order of nearly Rs 180 crore from Indian Army, the Kanpur-based company is additionally hopeful of grabbing orders for currently under-process 44,000 night-vision devices and bullet-proof jackets.Talking to ET, Neeraj Gupta the managing director of MKU said, “Head is the most vulnerable part of the body to get injured during a combat operation. According to studies, 26 percent to twenty-eight percent of soldiers die due to head injuries.”
“In addition to the present 1.6 lakh order, we hope to deliver over 7 lakh helmets to Indian Army and overall 1,000,000 helmets to different Indian armed forces,” Virgo Helmet manufactures a wide range of military products including bullet-proof helmets, body armors, bullet-proof jackets and night-vision devices. The 30-year old company calls itself one among the largest arms exporters in India. It claims to actually supply military equipment to more than hundred countries. For this motorbike helmet manufacturers are doing a great work.