Austrian manufacturer ULBRICHTS is already famous for its unrivaled helmets widely used by police forces and special units throughout the world. Now, the company is launching a helmet range based on its new lightweight OPTIO (three different cuts), a boltless upgrade of its First Responder model, with a strong motto: with heavy body armor, you protect your heart but why don’t you protect your brain with a helmet weighing only 1.2kg?
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ULBRICHTSOPTIO high-cut/jump and low-cut curved helmets ready for shooting tests (Picture source: Army Recognition)
Army Recognition wanted to check what head protection ‘’common’’ army unit soldiers and police officers benefit from with their standard issue helmets, in terms of ballistic protection (perforation/penetration and trauma). The major helmet is a classical NIJ IIIA helmet, which can be a composite(aramid or polyethylene) helmet.The idea came up to compare some standard NIJ IIIA helmets with what ULBRICHTS, the ‘’champion’’ in this field, now proposes with its OPTIO. Survivability is at stake! By survivability, one must understand that for saving a soldier’s life, it is essential not only to stop a bullet but also to protect the wearer from a deadly brain trauma caused by the backface deformation of the helmet.
In a nutshell: ULBRICHTS offers with its OPTIO true protection beyond NIJ IIIA starting at 1,2kg, whilst common military NIJ IIIA helmets have a deadly backface deformation when hit by a handgun and a deadly hole when hit by rifle ammunition.
So, Army Recognition went to ULBRICHTS’ factory, located between Salzburg and Linz, and attended a series of firing tests on ULBRICHTS helmets, with and without additional shields, and on classical NIJ IIIA helmets currently issued to nearly all armies… which we shall prudently not name, considering the frightening results we personally assessed. The following tests were executed on November 23 at a distance of 5 meters for handgun ammunition, and 10 meters for rifle ammunition, with various helmets, put on a ‘’normed soap head – specified by VPAM HVN’’, the material commonly used to relevantly represent the human head density, with the results indicated after each test:
Handgun performance from 5m:
• 9x19mm frontal hit on ULBRICHTS OPTIO helmet. Result: not a single impact is visible, thus no perforation and no lethal trauma.
• 9x19mm side hit on anNIJ IIIA helmet. Result:>50 joules (at survivable 25 joules) which means lethal brain trauma and death!
Rifle performance from 10m:
• 5.56x45mm frontal hit on ULBRICHTS OPTIO helmet with FORTIS (forehead shield). Result: no perforation and no lethal trauma.
• 5.56x45mm frontal hit on an NIJ IIIA helmet. Result: full penetration and death of its wearer!
• 7.62x39mm MSC frontal hit on ULBRICHTS OPTIO helmet with FORTIS (forehead shield). Result: no perforation and no lethal trauma.
• 7.6x51mm frontal hit on ULBRICHTS OPTIO helmet with FORTIS (forehead shield). Result: no perforation and no lethal trauma
• 7.62x39mm MSC front and side hit on ULBRICHTS ZENTURIO 7.62x39 MSC helmet (stand-alone rifle helmet, not foreseen to receive a forehead shield). Result: no perforation and no lethal trauma
Engineers with various combined skills are working on a new material called POLYTANIUM (a special combination of polyethylene and titanium) that will further increase the currently unrivaled efficiency of ULBRICHTS’ helmets. Secrecy is naturally a duty. The serial manufacture of ULBRICHTS’ helmets is partly robotized but human intervention remains needed from some of the 300+ workers employed by the company working for two business divisions: Protection and Automotive.
The dramatic lesson taught by the tests assessed by Army Recognition is that most or nearly all NIJ IIIA helmets commonly issued to the army and police units efficiently protect against shrapnel but not against any of the most widely spread ammunition fired in current armed conflicts: When hit by a 9x19 handgun ammunition they cause a deadly trauma and when hit rifle ammo like 7.62x36mm MSCfired by Kalashnikov variants or 5.56x45mm fired by M4A1 variants, or the .308 fired by sniper rifles they are even fully penetrated.
ULBRICHTS’ new OPTIO helmet provides unrivaled ballistic protection and is at the same time extremely light and comfortable. The protection performance against back face deformation and trauma as well as against rifle thread is unreached.
For these reasons, the OPTIO is the perfect helmet for elite special forces in police and military as well as for police on patrol and common soldiers.
In other terms: soldiers, mind your head when risking an eye outside a trench or a wall if you don’t wear a ULBRICHTS helmet! This warning comes out of undisputable tests photographed, filmed, and broadcasted by Army Recognition.
Meanwhile, if you really want to protect your brain, put your body armor on your head… or get a ULBRICHTS OPTIO helmet!
ULBRICHS OPTIO after hits by 9x19mm from a Glock pistol. The rear surface of the visor it totally intact, without even the least deformation (Picture source: Army Recognition)
ULBRICHTS OPTIO helmet with FORTIS forehead shield after a .223mm caliber hit from an AR-15 assault rifle. No damage at all, and no trauma (Picture source: Army Recognition)
ULBRICHTS OPTIO helmet with FORTIS forehead shield after a 7.62x39mm MSC caliber hit from a Kalashnikov. The FORTIS absorbs the full energy of the ammunition. No perforation of the helmet, and no trauma (Picture source: Army Recognition)
Central-European-made NIJ IIIA helmet currently issued, after a hit by a .223 caliber from an AR-15 assault rifle. The helmet has been easily perforated causing lethal damage and death (Picture source: Army Recognition)
ULBRICHTS OPTIO with FORTIS forehead shield after a .308mm caliber hit from a sniper rifle. No perforation, only the bracket for NVG is lightly smashed. No trauma at all (Picture source: Army Recognition)
ULBRICHTS ZENTURIO stand-alone rifle helmet after a .308mm caliber hit at 10 meters from a sniper rifle. No perforation, and no trauma, just superficial damage (Picture source: Army Recognition)
ULBRICHTS range of OPTIO and ZENTURIO stand-alone helmets with true protection against handgun and rifle threats versus NIJ IIIA helmets with deadly backface deformation at handgun hits and penetration at rifle hits. The helmet in the forefront shows the result of a defensive grenade detonated at less than 1 meter, as demonstrated in the video (Picture source: Army Recognition)
