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Four Helmets, Including a Prototype?


thorin6
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Picked up these four helmets today at a nearby swap meet. Didn’t pay much. Three of them are fairly self-explanatory. On the left is the normal PASGT, dated 86-87. Next is the SDS Warrior helmet, size is XL. The third from left I’ll explain in minute, and the one on the right is (I’ve been told, not verified) an Israeli helmet.

The person I bought these from said he used to work for American Defense Systems, which (from an internet search) was formed in 2002 in Apex, NC (the swap meet was in Lillington, NC, about 30 miles away from Apex). He told me he found them in the back of his garage and hadn’t realized he still had them. He just wanted to get rid of them so I picked up the four helmets for $30. Then he explained the odd, blocky shaped helmet. It was a prototype that the company put together to try to get a contract. However, even though it was ballistically superior to the current ACH/MICH helmets, it weighed too much for the military (it seems to weigh about as much as two PASGTs, to be honest). Given the price, I took it for the research interest.

However, there is not much information on American Defense Systems. There are multiple companies by that name, one offers home security systems (out of Texas), and one (out of New York) provides security services for various companies. As best I determine the company hit some hard financial times in 2008, and according the person selling me the helmets, now only has two employees. No idea how the helmet is made, the internals are pretty much the standard ACH/MICH/Warrior four point systems, with various pads secured with Velcro.

If anyone has more information, please feel free to add to this post.

 

 

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There is also this "American Defense Systems Inc." located in Lillington NC, and they say they were given a contract in 2009 by the Office of Naval Research to investigate helmet materials.

 

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1260996/000114420412022015/v309309_10k.htm

 

Thanks for the link, it ties together some disparate business filings and may help explain the company.

 

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that is super cool!

 

$30 is a steal, worth it for the ACH/MICH alone

 

I thought so; he wanted $10 apiece, so I offered $30 for the bunch. And then I saw a piece of armor plate for a Vietnam era armored vest and got it for $5. And then I walked down a couple of vendors and picked up a duffel bag for $5 to carry everything the 1/2 mile back to the car.

 

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The prototype helmet is interesting, thats going to make a nice display piece, probably not very many of those around, kind of rare?

 

As best I can tell, there can be only one.

 

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