Revision Eyewear wins $2 million in Army contracts for next-generation helmet

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has announced a new US Army contract with Revision Eyewear, for work in Essex Junction, on a next-generation helmet that will be designed to apply the grim lessons of troop injuries in Iraq Afghanistan in improving head protection for US soldiers. The three-year contract is with the US Army’s Natick Labs Soldier Systems division and is worth $1,990,340.
Leahy is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and of its Defense Subcommittee, which handles the Senate’s work in writing the annual defense budget bills. He has long supported Revision’s cutting-edge work on soldier protective systems such as protective eyewear. Leahy’s matchmaking efforts with Revision and Defense Department agencies, coupled with the funding he has secured through his work on the Appropriations Committee, have given the firm the chance to prove its technology, earn its reputation for quality and innovation and build strong links to potential customers.
Leahy said, ‘As a Vermonter I’m so proud that Vermont firms are in the forefront of creating life-saving innovations like this. It is a credit to our state’s workforce and growing technology sector that firms like Revision are taking root here. This Army contract shows that Revision has the expertise and technology to design a next-generation helmet that will improve protection from Traumatic Brain Injury and blast wounds.’
‘Senator Leahy continues to support Revision’s growth beyond ballistic eyewear and into head protection systems. He has shown a strong commitment to ensure that the newest soldier protection innovations are put into service to protect our troops as they encounter ever more sophisticated battlefield environments,’ said Jonathan Blanshay, CEO of Revision.
Under the contracts, Revision will be responsible for developing a new design prototype for the U.S. military’s next-generation headgear system. The new helmet will integrate both ballistic impact protection and blast protection from rotational forces that are believed to contribute to the relatively high number of brain injuries suffered by soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The helmet will have built-in communications systems, include enhanced chemical protection for the wearer, and will integrate a protection for the jaw and lower face.
ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (FRIDAY, July 1) ‘