In the early 2015 the Polish Armed Forces received the first
batch of the ordered amount of 5175 paratrooper helmets.
Thus, over fifty-year carer of the parachute bump helmet
known commonly as "the nut" (officially Parachutist Helmet
mod. 63) is finally coming to an end.
During the MSPO 2014 trade show in Kielce, Poland
the PSO MASKPOL demonstrated in public a proposi-
tion of the new helmet for the paratroopers selected
for the tender. Then it were shown two kinds of the
helmet which differ with the shell shape – a "classic"
version, with a full ear protection and a high-cut var-
iant resembling Maskpol HBKO-1 helmet. It should
be noticed that contract on the supplying had been
signed before the MSPO trade show, on 15th July
2014, but a selection of the shell shape and the de-
tails were done later.
The army decided on the helmet with a full ear pro-
tection and finally supplied model differs slightly
from the one presented in 2014. At this moment
helmet still does not have an official military desig-
nation – probably it will be classic so we can expect
a name of Model 15 or Model 2015 type. For the time
being it is described by the manufacturer name HA-03.
In the second half of March 2015, the first batch of
HA-03 was handed (or rather put on the heads) to
the paratroopers from the 16th Airborne Battalion
from 6th Airborne Brigade, Krakow, Poland.
The New Helmets
for Polish Airborne
Units
By: MICHAŁ SITARSKI Photo: M. BIENIEK (16.BPD), IKEM.PL
HEAD
PROTECTION
