Posted on 02/07/2006 2:25:07 PM PST by John Jorsett
There's nothing else like it on the market currently. A local Marine who served in Iraq has designed a new facial armor system that could save lives. The equipment is already being tested in combat.
"There are a lot of facial injuries. I've had friends currently over there who have been injured in the face," said Ben Mahan, Mtek Weapon Systems.
Mahan is a Marine who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "After I got back from Iraq in 2003 I noticed we were lacking face protection. So I went out and tried to find facial armor or something I could take because I had to return back with my unit. I wasn't able to find anything," he said.
Since Mahan returned home, he's been working to design a facial armor system that would protect servicemen and women in combat. "I want to save lives. That's my goal," he said.
"He went to the manufacturer of the helmet. They wanted an exorbitant amount of money to even make molds and lay it up and stuff like that," said Vanch Mahan, Ben's dad and business manager at Mtek.
Mahan took the idea to Mark Scott at Prototype Development, a company that concentrates on developing ideas, not for the military, but for racecars.
"We get a lot of e-mails, a lot of ideas, and this one really jumped out as being something special," said Mark Scott, Prototype Development.
"Of course our background is in motor sports so we have years of experience crashing cars into the wall at Indianapolis and other places. So we've tried to take our motor sports approach into the body armor field with some very different ideas," said Scott.
The "Predator" is a facial armor system made of Kevlar, the same material used in bulletproof vests. Mahan has spent the better part of two years perfecting it.
"It's not saying that you're totally protected and aren't going to get injured but it's going to keep a lot of shrapnel from tearing off the lower extremities of your face," said Vance Mahan. "We've shot this with a 12-gauge shot gun from point-blank range which is about a meter or three feet. It stopped that. We've shot it with a 44-magnum point-blank range. It stopped that. We shot it with a .357 at point blank range and it stopped all of it."
The mask will attach to any existing government-issued military helmet. Mtek has already sent one over to Iraq. They’ve also designed a bulletproof visor. Now the trick is getting the government to see the same need they do.
Remember the heat and mobility factors. If they don't cut it here, than the mask is useless, except for tactical situations/SWAT ops.
TK-421, Wht arent you at your post. TK-421, do you copy?
good idea.. Most useful for assaults on heavily defended positions..
Also, great for special forces who may find themselves outgunned...
Obviously, this can't be worn for all situations,but I can imagine quite a few where it will be.
Got to be kind of hard to see out of, isn't it? Might work for the 1st guy thru the door but don't think it would be really useful otherwise
"but I can imagine quite a few where it will be"
Such as? I can see it being useful for the 1st guy thru the door but otherswise?
Monica Lewinski could have used one of those . Yes?
![](http://web.ukonline.co.uk/bingo275/stevswedebob1.jpg"")
Imagine an entire opposing team crapping their pants simultaneously when I skate out onto the ice before my next hockey game wearing this thing. LOL.
I want that job!
Everything's fine here. We're all OK. How are you?
Me too, protection from Teddy Kennedy's soon to explode liver. The cirrhosis fibers are sharp when propelled at high velocity.
You're bad...that's the first thing that popped into my mind also.
I'll take one of these. Better coverage than the one shown in the original post, and level 3A protection is pretty good (every thing but rifle)
http://www.interamer.com/ballistic-face-mask.htm
I need that for driving the Vette. :-)
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