Indian Army has begun the process to acquire 1.59 lakh ‘AK-47 protected’ helmets. It will be one of the world’s largest procurements of these specialised ballistic helmets.
On June 23, the army’s Infantry Directorate kicked off the process by issuing a Request for Information (RFI) on Indian and global helmet manufacturers. The directorate also conducted a preliminary meeting with a handful of helmet manufacturers in New Delhi on July 13. The Request for Proposals will be issued in February next year. The budget for the procurement is not known but assuming each helmet costs Rs 50,000, the army could be looking at a Rs 500 crore order. The new helmets will replace the ‘bulletproof patka’ that has been in service since the 1990s and the stopgap helmet supplied by the Kanpur-based MKU in 2018.
Each AK-47 bullet flies at nearly twice the speed of sound and delivers a massive 2,000 joules of kinetic energy that can inflict fatal trauma even on victims wearing body armour and helmets. Recent advances in ballistic technologies, though, have created helmets capable of reducing the impact of an AK-47 round to less than 10 joules.
The army’s new helmet will also have to support various accessories like night-vision goggles, a torch, visors and face shields. More importantly, it has asked for the new helmet to protect against the AK-47’s 7.62×39 mm Mild Steel Core and Hard Steel Core bullets from 10 metres. Mild steel core bullets are most commonly used, while hard steel core rounds are those designed to penetrate metal and body armour.
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