GEONAUTICS PASGT HELMET

[mekenry]

Hello to everyone,

I'm an italian collector and this is my first topic.

Some time ago I fond this PASGT helmet made by GEONAUTICS.

What do you think abuot?

[Aaheritagefarms]

Geonautics made helmets early in prototype/testing phase about 1980/81

[mekenry]

Thanks for your answer…

I’ve found in my researches info like the one that you write,

but nothing that can give a help to definite this helmet:

there are a lot of news about GRP PASGT (all unmarked), but nothing about Geonautic’s kevlar helmets.

I was hoping that by posting on a US forum, I might find some help classifying this particular helmet...

[snake36bravo]

Hopefully the response you got helps. Prototype/Testing helmet before the PASGT was uniformly adopted to replace the M1 Helmet with Liner.

 

I read this post but did not respond earlier. I find it interesting you have this in Italy and wonder if its got a Vicenza connection somehow or made it's way to Italy via Germany. 

 

[mekenry]

Thanks snake36bravo,

I don't know his way... it cames from a Italian Army's large batch of discarded helmets.

There was test/valutation helmets made by italian ad forein industries.
I've managed to catalogue them all, except this... despite many searches.

I know that's a prototype helmet from the program for to replace M1 and was manufactured in 1980/81...
I was hoping to have more details in a forum of US collectors...

[gitana]

I don't know that there is much information floating around because there aren't many Geonautic helmets. I've only seen a few online, and none of them have the mold mark in the crown. That's really interesting. 

[gitana]

By the way, you mention GRP helmets. GRP stands for 'Glass Reinforced Plastic' (like fiberglass) and was a material that was tested along with Kevlar. GRP was less effective than Kevlar but was much cheaper. As we know, Kevlar won out in the end. 

 

Geonautics apparently only made 250 PASGT helmets for specification testing. 

 

Contracts were awarded to PACA, Geonautics, and Brunswick in September 1979 for the specification test PASGT helmets. It appears PACA produced Medium helmets, while Geonautics produced Small and Large. Brunswick apparently received a contract using a different “continuous filament” method. Each contract was for approximately 250 helmets. 

Helmets were produced using
• Kevlar pinwheel method
• Kevlar squares method
• Kevlar and Nylon

The final method of construction was chosen to be a combination of the pinwheel and squares method. The production PASGT helmet finally specified in the LP/P DES 12-78B described construction to be 17 layers of Kevlar, with outer pinwheel and interior squares. It was issued in lieu of the Military Specification, which had yet to be written, but it contained all the information necessary to allow contractors to bid. The first full-scale contracts (that did not include Geonautics) were awarded in September 1980, with the first deliveries scheduled for December 1981. 

 

Like I said, I have seen a few Geonautics helmets, but none that look like yours. I wonder if they received contract(s) to produce helmets to other countries... ?