Weapon and Sighting System Compatibility Assessment for Prototype Maxillofacial Protection Devices

Abstract

The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) designed maxillofacial protection system prototypes to address the growing trend of facial injuries suffered by Soldiers deployed to theaters of war. These systems are designed to attach to existing helmet systems such as the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) or Crewman Vehicular Combat Helmet (CVCH), or are integrated within novel helmet system designs. Among the concerns for eventual utilization are compatibility issues when Soldiers sight standard issue weapons in both dismounted and mounted operational scenarios. First-article prototypes were provided to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to conduct a rapid assessment on the influence of maxillofacial protection on sighting of standard issue small arms and sighting systems organic to combat vehicles. System front and side spatial breadth were identified as critical factors negatively affecting function by changing the natural spatial interactions between head, face, eye, and sighting system, across several small arms firing postures and combat vehicle sighting interfaces.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA576137

Entities

People

  • Frank Morelli
  • William H. Harper

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Body Regions
  • Combat Vehicles
  • Craniocerebral Trauma
  • Engineering
  • Guns
  • Machine Guns
  • Maxilla
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Research
  • Prototypes
  • Small Arms
  • Standards
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Vehicles
  • Weapon Systems
  • Weapons

Readers

  • Military Engineering.
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.