Helmet cover

The helmet cover was first used by French soldiers during World War I.

Helmet covers are usually made out of canvas or cotton and come in many camouflage designs, for example: woodland, desert or urban, and different camouflage patterns like MARPAT, CADPAT and ACUPAT. It can also be used for UN peacekeeping missions with a UN Blue colour helmet cover. Helmet covers are generally a flat colour to stop any reflection from a metal helmet. Helmet covers are attached to the helmet in many different ways, such as a tight rubber lip which goes all the way around the helmet rim and is pulled on and peeled off, also there are versions with draw-strings and types which are attached to the helmet suspension system.

Helmet covers are used by most armies and are in the camouflage pattern of the country/military's camouflage pattern, but some armies do have different covers to the uniform, for example Austrian Bundesheer wear several different helmet covers and have not got one standardized cover for every soldier.

Another type of helmet cover is the mesh net cover, which also helps reduce the metal glare from combat helmets as well as giving an opportunity to add natural camouflage such as grass, leaves and twigs. This type of cover is however not as widely used anymore, as the modern camouflage cloth covers in various patterns are more common on modern combat helmets.