How effective is the ballistic helmet?

I'm not terribly old. In fact, I feel, at best, middle aged. But I am old enough to remember a time when SWAT teams did not always use ballistic helmets. When I first joined a SWAT team, we did not use them. Bean counters felt they were too expensive, and many of the operators did not want to trade what they thought was situational awareness for the security of bullet-resistant headgear. It was shortly after I joined as a newer operator that some of the more seasoned and knowledgeable guys began to lobby for ballistic helmets. Back then it took considerable lobbying. Ballistic helmets were a new concept for police, and the only thing in much use were the Kevlar helmets used by the military to protect against shrapnel and indirect fire. I still remember the administrator who approved the purchase of our first ballistic helmets. He seemed smug about the whole matter and seemed to feel like using such protection was a sign of weakness.

In prior days, many SWAT teams used helmets intermittently for debris or impact protection, or they used nothing at all. In retrospect, this seems as foolish as suggesting a helmet for motorcycle racing is a poor investment. Like much lifesaving gear, the need is infrequent but the payoff is incomparable. You only really need a ballistic helmet once to make the purchase worthwhile. That was the argument used to turn my agency around. Well, that and the proof that they worked.

So how well do ballistic helmets work?

Turns out, they work very well. Most police ballistic helmets, like the SecPro PASGT Helmet and the SecPro MICH ACH High Cut, are rated to Level IIIA, which covers handgun rounds up to and including the .44 Magnum, plus fragmentation. That's a very impressive feat considering the energy the .44 Magnum carries.

Standard Level IIIA helmets are not rated to stop rifle rounds. For teams that face rifle threats, there are specialized rifle-resistant helmets such as the ArmorSource AS-600, built to resist specific rifle threats. Helmet shape also matters: a curved shell can deflect glancing hits that it was never rated to stop head-on, and there are documented cases of soldiers whose helmets turned away rifle rounds this way. Our article How Ballistic Helmets Save Lives: The Physics of Bullet Deflection walks through one of them.

Levels of Ballistic Protection

Ballistic protection is rated by which rounds an item proved capable of stopping in testing. For body armor and shields, NIJ levels II and IIIA cover handgun rounds, and levels III and IV cover rifle rounds. Most ballistic helmets are tested to the Level IIIA handgun threats, and a helmet that stops a .44 Magnum will generally protect against lesser handgun rounds as well. Always check exactly which rounds a specific helmet was tested against. Our Complete Guide to Ballistic Helmets explains the ratings in detail.

Anything Else Besides the Ballistic Protection?

Of course. Ballistic helmets also protect against impact. For law enforcement and security personnel, this is very important. Cops and security forces are just as likely, or more likely, to encounter impact weapons, thrown projectiles, and other head-strike hazards as they are to encounter gunfire. A helmet that provides both ballistic and impact protection is critical.

Today's ballistic helmet is an essential part of modern police and security force safety gear, not just for military use. Not just SWAT teams, but riot control forces and even patrol officers who might respond to active shooters should have one.

In the past, frequent arguments against ballistic helmets included weight and comfort. Modern helmets have advanced suspension systems that not only make the helmet wearable all day but are also part of the impact protection, helping reduce the forces that reach the head. Another common argument was that ballistic helmets would impair peripheral vision or hearing. A properly fitted helmet does not meaningfully interfere with vision, and many are designed to work with hearing protection such as electronic earmuffs, which amplify speech and normal sounds while shutting out high-decibel noise like gunfire.

It is hard to imagine a modern law enforcement or security agency that does not use ballistic helmets. It would be like curtailing the use of body armor. Security Pro USA offers a comprehensive selection of ballistic helmets for every budget and need, as well as face shields for added head protection. If you wear body armor, you should also consider a ballistic helmet. It just makes sense to protect your head like you protect your body.

About the writer
Mike Lazarus
Military and law enforcement veteran; FBI-certified firearms instructor; MP5 and submachine gun instructor; defensive tactics instructor; police academy instructor