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| Science & Technology |
| Face Shields on Soldier's Helmets Could Reduce Brain Injuries |
| 2010-11-26 |
| Over half of all injuries to U.S. troops are due to explosions, and a large percentage of those are head injuries. While helmets offer some protection, explosive pressure waves can be transmitted to soldiers brains via their unprotected faces. Computer modeling of blast shock waves striking a human face head-on suggests a soldier wearing a helmet with a polycarbonate face mask would receive less stress to the brain. Further studies will investigate different blast angles, intensities and parts of the body exposed. Full open access article here. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #5 Actually, a bite cone, but pointed in the other direction, is the basic idea. The bad guy in the James Bond movie, The Living Daylights, used a transparent rifle shield, but it is problematic because it was inflexible and difficult to maneuver with. With the 180 fan over the top of the rifle mode would be great in an urban environment, because you could scope peek around a corner while limiting your face exposure to enemy fire, or frag that went flying your way. If you're moving tactically, you would use a full 360 degree shield. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-11-26 22:33 |
| #4 huh??? Diameter? ability to operate in urban environments? Wouldn't it be better to use "bite cones" like vets do? /sarc |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-11-26 18:51 |
| #3 The Army alone has dumped millions into helmet, protective mask, face shield research since the 1980s. It's just not happening. That being said, there are some interesting alternatives. One I like is the "rifle fan". It is a transparent, bladed fan that attaches to the rifle barrel, either 180 degrees over the top, or a full 360 degrees around the barrel. It acts as a bullet and frag deflector, just knocking the bullet or frag a little off course, away from the face and hands. And if a fan blade is hit, and thus its transparency reduced, you just rotate the fan, and the damaged blade is out of the main line of sight. I can't even find a picture of the darned thing. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-11-26 18:44 |
| #2 In limited situations, face shields would useful : for example, combined with the cool suits for gunners on vehicles. For the infantry, unless the helmet and face shield have a micro-climate powered setup, tipover is exactly right -- fog heaven and heat build-up. Maybe if the micro fuel cells can be rolled out, a helmet/face shield combo would be practical for all troops, since the fuel cell could power a couple of small fans to move air around inside the face shield. But then, you have to worry about chemical weapons because the fan would pull the vapor into the helmet. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2010-11-26 16:04 |
| #1 Of course the troops would die from obscured vision (fogging) and heat stroke but other than that it may be a valid study. /s |
| Posted by: tipover 2010-11-26 12:15 |