Is the iconic Halo helmet design the future of the United States Army? A new military helmet design called the “M50 joint service general purpose mask” (quite a mouthful) is specifically designed to provide protection against chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons, but if anything it will make any future soldier heavily resemble the famous Master Chief video game character.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , leaks related to the Halo 5 release date indicate that we will know for certain at E3 2014 .
The soldier of the future is going to get some interesting gear in the coming future. While the acronym for the MJSGPM is no Halo Mjolnir assault armor, it does sound like something that the inventor from Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs might come up with. Although, honestly, the mask more resembles the Halo helmet from ODST rather than any of the Spartans.
So far the official announcement from the US Army has focused on the filtration system built into the M50 mask. It has “a powered air purifying respirator, which consists of a hose connected to the face mask from a blower unit and battery pack hanging off the hip or back. A typical respirator is heavy and cumbersome, adding to the weight of the equipment troops already carry.” The helmet even comes with built-in air conditioning:
“The mini-blower works by pulling air through a filtration system on the side of the mask and sweeping it across the nose cup to allow for even flow across the face. When the user exhales, the air valve closes and diverts all of the clean filtered air into the mask’s eye cavity to over-pressurize the face piece, preventing any potential for outside contaminates to enter the mask should there be a break in the seal.”
Unlike the Halo helmet, the M50 does not have a Heads Up Display (HUD), night vision, or anything too spiffy… yet. The designers of the helmet, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center’s Respiratory Protection Branch, is “anticipating integration with next-generation helmet and communication system designs and user needs.” It’s possible the M50 design could be incorporated into the Warrior Web project being designed by DARPA:
The end result would mean the future soldier will not only have a Halo helmet, they’ll also have a mechanized body suit that increases strength and minimizes injuries!
