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GAO-09-768R Warfighter Support

United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

July 28, 2009Congressional CommitteesSubject:

Warfighter Support: Information on Army and Marine Corps Ground Combat Helmet Pads

Combat soldiers operate in diverse environments and face injury threats that place demandson the protective equipment systems they use to provide consistent protection throughout arange of temperatures and threat magnitudes. Protective helmets are one of those systems. Inaddition to protecting against ballistic threats, Army and Marine Corps ground combathelmets are now designed to absorb energy in order to reduce head injury risk from bluntimpacts; previous combat helmets, such as the Personnel Armor System for Ground Troopshelmet in use until 2002, were not designed to provide any tested levels of blunt impactprotection.

The currently used Army Advanced Combat Helmet and Marine Corps LightWeight Helmet are outfitted with a pad suspension system to protect against these threats.These pad suspension systems have been found to offer superior blunt impact protection overthe older sling suspension systems.The Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance,and Continuing Appropriations Act of 2009 directed GAO to review ground combat helmetpads. In response, this report focuses on two objectives: (1) Who currently provides the padsused in Army and Marine Corps ground combat helmets, and how were they chosen? and (2)What efforts and research have been undertaken by the Army and Marine Corps to improvehelmet pad performance and helmet technology? In addition, we have included informationon servicemembers’ use of helmet pads that are not approved. A timeline of events regardinghelmet technology is included in the attached enclosure.In April 2009, we provided congressional staff with a preliminary overview of our work,including our scope and methodology. This report summarizes that briefing and includesadditional information subsequently obtained from Department of Defense officials. Toconduct our review, we interviewed officials from the Army, Marines, and Defense LogisticsAgency, as well as representatives from National Industries for the Blind, which packagesand supplies helmet pads to the Army and Marines. We also met with representatives fromtwo helmet pad manufacturers at their request. Further, we reviewed and analyzed testreports and other documentation related to helmet pad performance, although we did notevaluate the reliability or validity of the testing or test results. A detailed scope and

Examples of blunt impacts include trips and falls while maneuvering by foot, airborne (parachutist) operations,and motor vehicle or aircraft accidents where body flail and vehicle structural deformation could produce a headimpact.

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GAO-09-768R Warfighter Support

methodology is included at the end of this report. We conducted this review from December2008 through July 2009.

Results in Brief

Both the Army and the Marine Corps currently use pads that are manufactured by TeamWendy, a company based in Cleveland, Ohio, and are supplied through National Industriesfor the Blind, an organization that packages and supplies helmet pads to the Army andMarines through the AbilityOne program. These pads were selected based on the results of prior Army testing, as well as value. Helmet systems, including helmet pads, have undergonea variety of tests, including tests to judge their relative protection in comparison with thesling suspension system and tests to judge comfort and ease of use.The Army and Marine Corps are actively seeking new options to improve helmet technology.In 2007, in an effort to spur industry to design a more effective pad system, the Army issueda request for information seeking an off-the-shelf technology solution that could increaseblunt impact protection over the current performance standard. The current testing standardfor blunt impact protection requires that a helmet dropped at a speed of 10 feet per second beable to diminish the force to which the wearer’s head accelerates to under 150 g.

Accordingto Army officials, the request for information called for the same degree of protection at adrop speed of 14.1 feet per second, with the ultimate objective of increasing this drop speedto 17.3 feet per second. To date, no manufacturer has submitted a pad system that passes thetesting at 14.1 feet per second, but the Army believes that this call for an improvedtechnological solution will motivate industry to develop better performing pads.Additionally, the services are looking for new alternatives for protecting against blunt impactinjury. This effort includes outreach to other countries and sports organizations, and researchinto the causes of traumatic brain injury.

Background

Prior to 2002, both the Army and the Marine Corps used the Personnel Armor System forGround Troops helmet that was equipped with a sling suspension system consisting of anadjustable leather band fastened around the head, as well as other supporting straps. Startingin 2002, however, the Army began evaluating new helmets and eventually fielded theAdvanced Combat Helmet. The Advanced Combat Helmet uses a seven-pad suspensionsystem affixed to the inside of the helmet using hook pile tape and was modeled after asimilar helmet, the Modular Integrated Communications Helmet, then in use by SpecialOperations Command soldiers. Figure 1 shows the differences between the sling suspensionand pad suspension systems.

The notation of g or G denotes an acceleration equal to the acceleration of gravity, 980 centimeter per secondsquared, or approximately 32.2 feet per second per second at sea level. It is used as a unit of stress measurementfor bodies undergoing acceleration.

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GAO-09-768R Warfighter Support

Figure 1: Sling and Pad Suspension Systems

Sling suspension

Concurrently, the Marine Corps also adopted a new helmet—called the Light WeightHelmet—to replace its Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops helmets. Although theLight Weight Helmet has a shell shape similar to that of the Personnel Armor System forGround Troops helmet and provides the same coverage, it is constructed with lighter weightballistic material that provides equivalent ballistic protection. When initially fielded, theLight Weight Helmet also used a sling suspension system, albeit somewhat modified. In2006, however, the Marine Corps replaced this modified sling suspension system with thesame pad suspension system used in the Army’s Advanced Combat Helmet.

The Army and the Marines Currently Use Team Wendy Pads Supplied by NationalIndustries for the Blind on the Basis of Army Testing, Approval, and Value

Both the Army and the Marine Corps currently use pads that are manufactured by TeamWendy, a pad manufacturing company based in Cleveland, Ohio, and are supplied to themthrough National Industries for the Blind on the basis of Army testing, approval, and value.Helmet systems, including helmet pads, underwent a variety of tests, including tests to judgetheir relative protection in comparison with the sling suspension system. In 2005, the U.S.Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory reported on its evaluation of the blunt impactprotection offered by pad suspension systems versus sling suspension systems. In thatevaluation, the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory tested the Advanced CombatHelmet with its standard pad configuration against two types of Personnel Armor System forGround Troops helmet sling suspension systems: that of the infantry and that of theparatrooper, of which the latter includes some padding in addition to the sling. The U.S.Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory found that the pad suspension system offeredsuperior blunt impact protection to either of the sling suspension systems. Again in 2006, theU.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory tested pad suspension systems against slingsuspension systems, this time assessing six different pad systems from five differentmanufacturers against the sling suspension system then used in the Marine Corps LightWeight Helmet. The U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory found that while all but