The US Army issued 2000 new helmets to soldiers in the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, marking the first time the NG-IHPS has been equipped to troops, the US Army announced on 12 February, 2024.
The NG-IHPS offers better ballistic and fragmentation protection than its predecessors the Advanced Combat Helmet and the Enhanced Combat Helmet.
The new system also offers options for integrations with soldier-enabling devices, according to Lt. Col. Ken Elgort, product manager for Soldier Protective Equipment.
Comprising a retention system, suspension system, helmet cover, and a night vision device bracket, the combat-ready NG-IHPS is designed to integrate a mandible protector, hearing protection, communications, and heads-up displays, including the Integrated Visual Augmentation System and the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular.
“This fielding marks significant progress for Soldier protective equipment as it equips Soldiers with protection against relevant battlefield threats, and the innovative helmet design is a purpose-built platform for integration now, and with future Soldier-enabling devices,” continued Elgort.
For the 6% of the force operating in a mounted configuration, a mandible protector will also be fielded.
Maj. Matthew Nulk, assistant program manager of the Head Protection Team, stated that the NG-IHPS enhances ballistic and fragmentation defence capabilities while cutting down the weight previously needed for this level of protection by 40%. “We’re offering our Soldiers the highest standard of rifle threat protection available globally.”
Two vendors, Gentex and Avon Protection, completed First Article Testing, a series of non-ballistic and ballistic tests of a random sample of PPE from the first production lot, according to to a 2022 report on Soldier Protection Systems from the Director of Operations Test and Evaluation, with one vendor failing to meet the ballistic test requirements, necessitating a redesign of the ballistic layup and retesting.
