Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Universities Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2SQ, United Kingdom.
Defence Equipment and Support, Ministry of Defence Abbey Wood, Bristol, BS34 8JH, United Kingdom.
Appl Ergon. 2024 Sep;119:104323. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104323. Epub 2024 Jun 1.
In 2015, the VIRTUS helmet was introduced to UK Armed Forces and will ultimately replace the Mark 7 combat helmet. The VIRTUS helmet has a reduced trimline compared to the Mark 7 helmet and can incorporate attachments such as a visor, mandible guard and nape protection. An anonymous questionnaire was provided to 200 UK Armed Forces personnel deployed to four locations on Operation TORAL in Afghanistan between September and October 2019. This is the first User feedback survey assessing the VIRTUS helmet in an operational environment. Users were measured to ascertain the fit of their helmet and asked to rate perceived helmet mass and comfort using a 5-point Likert scale. Users were also asked whether the VIRTUS helmet was better than previous helmets and about their use of the nape protection. The VIRTUS helmet was perceived to be an improvement over previously issued UK combat helmets in terms of both comfort and mass.
2015 年，VIRTUS 头盔引入英国武装部队，最终将取代 Mark 7 作战头盔。VIRTUS 头盔与 Mark 7 头盔相比，帽檐更小，并可以安装遮阳板、下颚保护罩和颈后保护装置。2019 年 9 月至 10 月，200 名英国武装部队人员在阿富汗 TORAL 行动的四个地点部署期间，匿名填写了调查问卷。这是第一次在作战环境中评估 VIRTUS 头盔的用户反馈调查。对使用者进行了测量，以确定其头盔的贴合度，并使用 5 分制李克特量表评估头盔的感知质量和舒适度。还询问了使用者 VIRTUS 头盔是否优于以前的头盔，以及他们对颈后保护装置的使用情况。在舒适度和质量方面，VIRTUS 头盔被认为优于英国以前发放的作战头盔。
