Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare has announced upgrades worth a million dollars to combat helmets worn by soldiers in Afghanistan.
The upgrade to 2,000 helmets was completed last month and includes fitting new padding and harnesses inside the helmet to increase comfort and functionality.
Another 1,500 combat helmets will be fitted with the new padding and harnesses in the first quarter of next year for soldiers deploying to Afghanistan in the future.
Further upgrades to better integrate night vision equipment and to enhance blunt impact protection to the current combat helmet will also be undertaken by the Diggerworks Team next year.
Mr Clare said this was an issue soldiers had raised with him this year.
“I met with soldiers from Mentoring Taskforce 3 earlier this year before they deployed to Afghanistan and they told me this was something they wanted fixed. Diggerworks have done a great job in rolling this out so quickly,” Mr Clare said.
“The new padding and harness make the helmet more comfortable and easier to wear.”
Diggerworks is a specialist team of combat experienced soldiers, scientists and engineers established to develop and deliver new equipment to better protect Australian troops.