Israeli " Kasda " M-1

[Mark K]

Israel began production of its own variation of the " Kasda " M-1 sometime in the late 1960's these helmets remained in service until gradually being phased out by the M-76 Orlite ballistic composite helmet... They are produced in one size and weigh in at approximately 1530 grams and are manufactured from " Hadfield " manganese steel...

One thing that immediately catches your attention with these M-1 helmets is the fact that a three point chinstrap system was employed with the addition of a slider type buckle that has been added to the rear of the helmet body to thread the webbing through, and two claw foot slider buckles added to the sides...

Although offering much better support while wearing this helmet this in my opinion would make for a time consuming and problematic venture every time the helmet had to be adjusted, taken off or put back on as the webbing would have to be re threaded through the buckles on either side of the helmet body and or released on the harness so one could slip his head in and out as there is no quick release system...

The liners were modelled after the US P-64 M-1 liner system and are produced by the Tama company and are manufactured from nylon fabric impregnated with phenolic resin / Polyvinyl butyral ( PVB ) shaped in a high pressure mould The Israeli M-1 ( Kasda ) are most commonly seen adorned with camouflage nets, hessian covers and an assortments of bands were employed to keep the covers on tight and close to the helmet shell most frequently seen are inner tube bands, With a small number of factory produced wide tan helmet bands that are seen from time to time...

 

Regards Mark

[jmd62]

Great looking helmet Mark, and very good information. Thanks! James

[Mark K]

1 hour ago, jmd62 said:

Great looking helmet Mark, and very good information. Thanks! James

Thanx for stopping in James glad you found it interesting and informative..

 

Regards Mark

[Otter42]

Thanks Mark for the detailed information on the helmet. Are there other countries that use the attachment on the rear like this one? Ken

[SteveB]

Nice helmet Mark

 

Ken, this type of three point chinstrap is a carry over from the British HSAT airborne helmet of WWII which saw extensive use in Israel, they adopted it for the 'Kasda', as Mark says its not simplest strap to adjust but they must of had their reasons because they also used it on the early version of the 201 composite helmet, replacing it in 1985 with a more practical version.

To my knowledge outside of the original HSAT, Israel is the only country to have used this chinstrap arrangement on a helmet. There are other types of three point strap helmets mainly for airborne units, but it's become very common on the modern helmets. I read a study by the Canadian military of tests between the US PASGT, the Israeli 201 and the UK Mk VI and the conclusion was that the 201 although inferior in terms of ballistics had a much better chinstrap arrangement keeping the helmet in place.

 

Steve

[Otter42]

Thanks Steve for the wealth of information.  

[Mark K]

Steve and Otter there were a few other counties that did adopt the 3 point bail system on steel pots I only have a couple of minutes so we will just cover a few right now such as the French on the Model 56 Tap which can be seen in the images below and the West German ( M 60 /85 ) ( M 62 / 85 ) ( M 85 ) Modell 1A1 '' modifiziert, Bondentruppenhelm .

 

Regards Mark

[JerryBB]

my kasda m1, in these pics it has the wrong chinstrap, I now have the correct one on it thanks to Mark.