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Brit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmet

Article about: Ok so it hasn't been called the Mk8....yet.... I saw a few at Bovington last weekend and was surprised to see two different shaped mandible guards (that's the jaw bit!) fitted...one was angu

  1. #41
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    I could've started a whole new thread for this.......and called it something helpful like "Look what I've seen!".....but....

    I recently had the opportunity to get up close and personal with some more Virtuses....Virti......Virt?.....you know what I mean and, as any Compo fan would do (well, those who've known Mr Pickersgill for a long time) I looked for a screwdriver! A car key (and one broken shed padlock key later...we can always lever that door off anyway) helped us get a snap of a cover-less Virtus. Now, buckle up as this is one hell of a ride!

    ...but it turned out that one of them wasn't quite the same as the other.....one had the "old" (now) style cover whilst another had the later model. There were also slight differences re the helmets, well the front bracket too.......how exciting was that?!...it was like finding a champagne round bottomed droop tail in a pile of old M34 Feuerschutz! ('see, I can play that pretending-to-be-German-in-an-attempt-to-make-us-sound-special/elite thing too!)

    The trouble with the old / first cover was that it came built-in...literally. It couldn't be slipped off at the untie of a string....you needed a screwdriver to undo the 5 bolts to get the cover off!

    Well, this new cover is excitingly different ('s'funny cos I'm not FEELING that excitement coming back from you, the readers....)....

    Firstly, the back....

    Mk1 on the left...bolted on like a....errrr....thing that's bolted on to something else.....but the MkII (by the way, I've given them these exciting and highly descriptive product names) slips OVER all the nobbly bits, including the delicate hard-to-see brow bracket and there's even holes for the bolts at the back...although I'd argue that they've played it a little too safe with "room to grow" either side.....

    Moving around to the front, which, incidentally is ALWAYS the best bit....

    ....note how the new cover (right) positively cascades over the top of that near-invisible brow bracket, securing as it does under the helmet rim via a sophisticated array of....errr....elastic edging.... Oh, and whats that?!....no black metal back-plate in the NVG mount nowadays....this just gets interestinger and interestinger.... (sorry for those for whom English isn't a first language...that should probably read "more interesting"). But that's not the biggest thing...here's the kicker at the side....

    ...theres a bloomin' great hole.....this exposes the slot-in bracket top and the side mini-rail (if it was fitted)....but what's that strange triangular piece of MTP which seems to be inside the top of the hole.....wait, surely not.....it gets even better?

    ...inside the new cover (removable) are little flaps which expose or cover the top corner of the new and exciting triangular hole! Now these flaps, when closed cover that HUGE expanse of what would be a totally exposed helmet...must be getting on to a square inch (that's probably about half a square litre to you youngsters) of plain, uncovered helmet....a Dragunuv-users dream!

    But wait...there's more....they've only gone and changed the Velcro (or should that be Hook'n'Pile nowadays....LGBGQTBT gone mad!) patches AND repositioned the elasticated foliage straps too....just look at how that masterpiece of elasticity now snakes its way up diagonally across the side of the helmet, almost parallel with those little white words....oh....mmmmm...sorry about that......

    Phew, what do you think of that?....and they say that TR stuff is interesting....covered brow bracket, exposed bolts, hidden flaps, migrating Velcro.... what we're witnessing here is a cataclysmic shift in the Helmet world...this is the equivalent of when they discovered that "SS" actually stood for "Secret Squirrel"......you will ALL remember where you were when you read this.......

    ...now I come to think of it, I should've offered them a few quid for it (although I'm sure bribing a Squaddie is illegal)......but they'll be in a box at War and Peace in 2 years time, three for a fiver.......

    Someone make a note for when some idiot asks in 10 years time "when did the Removable Cover come in?" (oh and they'll ask in a totally new thread too......)
    Very interesting. Enjoyed this. Even held my attention for a few minutes..... but will now will go back to German Helmets!




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    My greatest fear is that one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them

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  2. #42

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    ...and just for completeness, there have been 2 "bolt-ons" (apart from the mandible and the visor goggles.....oh and the nape piece...ok so the mandible, the visor goggles and the nape piece.....but dont forget the NVG mount....OK OK so mandible, the visor goggles, nape piece AND the NVG mount....but doesn't the cover [old and new] count?....right, mandible, the visor goggles, nape piece, the NVG mount AND the cover [old AND new...obvs].......what about the side rails and what sits on them?...aaaaggghhhhh)....anyway, there's a vecro-backed counter-balance weight pouch which fixes onto the large patch at the rear of the cover (new AND old) and there's a strap extension piece which presumably helps out any fat-jowelled or tall headed (a bit like those aliens in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie) squaddies. Actually, that extension piece confuses me, coming as it did a bit later on......was it always in stores, waiting for ol' no-neck to sign-up.....or was it introduced AFTER the helmet which suggests either an oversight in helmet design...or a variance in soldier head-size internationally.....or was there a sudden rush amongst folk gifted in the lower jaw area to sign-up....or perhaps that's where the early ebay sales examples came from - unfastened helmets falling off the facially-gifted...

    ...anyway there's a small pouch and a strap extension


    'gotta keep on top of this one guys...the one thing WE'VE got over the TR gang is new bits.....they've spent all their rounds...they can't have anything new but we've got loads of time left for those ingenious lil' velcro-backed beauties which make these things more interesting than coal scuttles with pretty little stickers on...

  3. #43

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    'was chatting to a couple of squaddies at the weekend and we got onto Virtus....as one does. One claimed that a while ago his lot had "some people come to ask them questions about the new helmet"......he went on to tell me that the small side rails were slated because they were causing "hang-ups"....literally...especially around Cam nets....one had to be very careful when exiting a Cam netted vehicle or area as the side rails had a tendency to get caught up and whilst the rest of you wanted to go one way your helmet (and head) kinda stayed where the net was! ..or the rail just snapped off. This further explains the pics of taped-up rails. They also mentioned the inability to switch damaged covers without a tool kit. Both these "complaints" have been addressed in the later model helmet and cover. I continued my investigations into the application of the mandible and drop-down goggles...."they just get thrown in a box!"

  4. #44

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    'anyone noticed that Mk2-covered Virti (?) are now freely available on eBay. The ol' Mk1 covers are also appearing loose now?

    Who'd've thought it eh?....a second and re-shaped cover.......that's the beauty of this stuff.....new bits keep coming along. Just think how crazy Forums were in WW2 when the ol' Droop Bill disappeared....or when Champagne stopped flowing.....and as for that plastic Luftschutz strap...well.....it must've been Form-Madness!

  5. #45

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    Commercially made/sold plastic rim clips (in Coyote brown) to hold the edge cord (or the net itself) of a camo net onto the helmet. 6 to a box. As NBC boot strips and Inner tube rings were frowned upon / banned perhaps these are "this years black"...or whatever fashion-orientated saying one can get away with nowadays. I've yet to hear how well they're going down...but based on the fact that the mini-rails were becoming caught in vehicle nets and para lines it'd be interesting to see if they're liked / used.

    Brit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmet

  6. #46

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    No longer "Revision"....as of November 2019 helmet production came under the Revision parent company name of Galvion...not to be confused with Gaviscon......(helmets should NOT be ingested in the event of stomach upset!)

    So I guess those issued after November last year are Galvion Cobra /Viper lids????....although I can'd find a "Cobra"...is it now a "Viper P4" with the optional brow bracket?

    Who makes Brit lids nowadays? are they still being made? why isn't it referred to as the Mk8?

    ..one day...someone, somewhere will thank me for these snippets! :-)

  7. #47

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    I had the opportunity to photograph this unusual early (2015) example recently. It's clearly taken a (controlled?) round to one side and as usual with layered material it has distorted/ballooned inside. But 2 sections have been removed, incredibly well, on the opposite side. In my experience ballistic test items wouldn't have a cover on and the shell would be marked at point of entry with the calibre of the weapon fired...but perhaps not all the time. The large rectangle area is where fragments would probably have ended up...and perhaps the circular hole was for a monitoring device/camera???? Or it was all done by kids for a Youtube film.....

    My thoughts at this stage are some kind of post-impact demonstration model...with perhaps the removed inner impact section displayed separately along with footage??...why else would the cutting be so good??

    One thing's for sure, there wasn't anything important in it when it was done.

    Brit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmetBrit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmetBrit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmetBrit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmetBrit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmet

  8. #48

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    Hi Ade,

    That is an intriguing one. As you say one would expect the cover to be absent in a ballistic test because it conceals detail that needs to be visible for assessment and I find it difficult to believe it could have bee replaced that accurately and the cuts appear to have been made with the cover in place. Also, those holes were not IMO made in anything other than a well equipped workshop and have been placed with precision greater than any garden shed Youtuber could dream of. Notice how fine and accurate the cutting is and how likely is it that the cutting would run so close to the internal liner components yet not even scratch them?

    If I had to guess, and guessing it is, perhaps this is part of final stage quality control testing with the cut-out of the "exit" side (if we were talking about head injury this would be the "Contrecoup") being made in order to closely examine the effects at a forensic or composite level (see what I did there? ) to determine the reaction of the material to the secondary ballistic impact(s). I imagine there are no vice or clamp marks either which you would expect in the "garden shed" scenario, because the helmet was held in a purpose specific jig etc.

    Another option I suppose is that the shot damage did occur in the field whilst the helmet was unworn and being of such a new type at the time it was submitted for research/investigation. The other excision being for comparison perhaps? This seems less like though as from the pictures the helmet appear more or less factory new.

    Do you have any background info on this one?

    Regards

    Mark
    "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares more about than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

  9. #49

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    all interesting stuff Mr Dog.....my gut is going with it sitting on a clear perspex box sitting next to a video screen showing a loop of footage at some kind of Defence Expo. As you say, the cutting is amazingly good and not done with a Winfield Hack Saw from Woolies. I have no other info - sorry.

  10. #50

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    Here's it's half-brother....the Viper

    Brit Virtus / Cobra / "Mk8" helmet

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