In the world of ballistic protection, new innovations are pushing boundaries to cater to unique needs. Not all those who serve are six foot tall European men.
Cooneen Group
Split across four divisions, the company dedicates itself to military clothing, body armor, aviation, and corporate wear: all areas wherein women’s needs have been overlooked by the industry. Yet, more and more companies are acknowledging the female presence, not only in the armed forces, but in the case of uniformed officers too.
I am very proud to say that we have done a lot of work in the past two years in female body armor…
says the Business Development Director, Jonathan McKendry. “We’ve won some awards for our diversity and inclusion ranges […] the menopausal range features lighter, more cooling fabric, anything that can help the wearer” he adds.
Temperature Regulated Fabrics such as HEIQ, Dezeen, and Eysan ensure thermal comfort during hot flashes. Discreet Hidden Ventilation Systems maintain airflow without compromising aesthetics, guaranteeing both protection and relief. This design was dispatched to the frontline emergency services of South Yorkshire, and awarded the Inclusive Design award at the PCIAW Summit & Awards in Portugal in 2023.
MKU Limited
About eight per cent of the Indian Army is composed of Sikh men, a religion rooting from Northern India, whose men wrap a cloth Turban around their head as a symbol of their faith. Sikh men also form part of the British and American armies . MKU Limited, a company operating in India, Germany, and the UAE, allows for a world wherein one’s cultural practices may coexist with a disciplinarian military.
The KAVRO SCH-111 T Ballistic Helmet for Sikh Soldiers was developed two years ago, and offers uniform ballistic protection with a 40 per cent reduction in blunt trauma. The specialized helmet is designed to be worn over the traditional Turban or its undercloth, and “maximizes situational awareness and compatibility with communication headsets”.
At EnforceTac 2024, bodyarmornews.com interviewed Karan Gupta, the Vice President of New Business Development at MKU Limited. “There was a tender that came for about 10,000 units of these helmets. The evaluation is still going on. We have the patent and IP rights for that design. There was another company that bid, and won the tender for cost reasons […] but because we own the patent, the helmets have not yet been supplied” explains Karan. An ongoing lawsuit, bureaucracy stands as an obstacle between invention and implementation.
Body armor must cater to the specific, but equally important needs of other genders and cultures. This would mark the true intersection between inclusion and innovation. Cooneen Group and MKU Limited spoke with bodyarmornews.com at the recent EnforceTac trade fair, affirming their commitment to inclusivity.
