Advanced Combat Helmet stops an AK-47 head shot

Whenever you play any kind of war video game of watch any kind of war movie, you might wonder why any of the solders decide to put on protective gear since their opponent’s weapons always seem to be able to easily penetrate their protective covering. However, the United States Army has created and deployed a new kind of protective helmet that can actually stop a moving bullet, including a 7.62x39mm round from an AK-47.
Iowa National Guard member Tom Alberts was deployed in Afganistan, and unfortunately got shot in the head. However, due to the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) he was wearing at the time, he miraculously avoided any injury, much less a fatal one. The helmet stopped the bullet cold, before it reached his skull.

According to Adam Riediger, another National Guard member on patrol at the time, Alberts suddenly fell to the ground. When Riediger asked Alberts what happened, Alberts said he think he got shot. Amazingly, not only did the helmet prevent the bullet from penetrating the skull, but it even lessened the cranial impact enough to keep Alberts coherent.
The ACH is lighter than previous models, and is not only resistant to moisture, but flame-retardent as well. The helmet’s chinstrap also provides a ballistic protection and covers the area of the neck between the helmet and collar of the body armor.
Just because Alberts was lucky, that doesn’t mean you should rush out and buy a gun and an ACH to test it out. However, it does mean that the helmet is at least strong enough in some scenarios to stop an AK-47 round. A comparison of the M14 and the AK-47 performed by the United States Army shows that the AK-47 can penetrate helmets within a range of 400 meters, whereas it most likely won’t from 400 to 600 meters away. Whatever the case, if Alberts was wearing a helmet that wasn’t the ACH, this story might’ve gone much differently.
If you are wondering about potential impact to the men and women out in the field know this: the Army has distributed 1.2 million of the helmets so far to troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq alone. So this is a significant, potentially life-saving development.