CARBONDALE, PA, November 12, 2026 — Gentex Corporation, a global leader in personal protection and situational awareness solutions, announced today it has delivered over 200,000 Enhanced Combat Helmets (ECH) to the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) since being awarded an initial contract in May 2017. This significant milestone highlights Gentex’s continued role in equipping Marines with cutting edge head protection designed to meet the demands of the modern battlefield. As an American-owned company since 1894, Gentex has a longstanding commitment to supporting those who serve.
This achievement includes the delivery of more than 35,000 high cut ECH helmets, demonstrating Gentex’s ability to modify the originalECH design into a more integrated platform, designed to betterintegrate mission-critical equipment, including night vision devices and communications headsets.
Under contracts with both U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command and DLA, Gentex has demonstrated consistent quality and delivered on or ahead of schedule while meeting stringent ballistic and durability requirements.
“Reaching the 200,000helmet milestone reflects our unwavering commitment to delivering worldclass protective equipment to America’s warfighters,” said Pat Stallings, Senior Director of Operations (U.S. Army Retired), at Gentex Corporation. “We’re proud to support the Marine Corps with proven, missionready head protection solutions assembled in the United States.”
Building on its extensive experience with the ECH program and decades of helmet system innovation, Gentex was selected for the Marine Corps Integrated Helmet System (IHS) program, developing the FAST® IHS boltless helmet system through its Ops-Core® brand. The FAST IHS helmet delivers the same high level of ballistic protection as the ECH helmets while reducing system weight by 11% and improving overall integration with modern Marine equipment. The system incorporates many of the comfort, fit, and stability enhancements originally developed and fielded through the U.S. Special Operations Command Family of Tactical Headborne Systems (FTHS) program, including the Ops-Core POWERPATH® ARC Rail System, Modular Bungee Shroud, Vented LuxTM Liner, and the Occ-Dial® retention technology that was further refined through the Marine Corps IHS Other Transaction Authority (OTA) developmenteffort.
These technologies work together to improve helmet stability during dynamic movement, enhance load distribution, increase wearer comfort during extended operations, and provide superior integration with the Marine Corps’ Hearing Enhancement Devices (HEDs) and other communications headsets. The result is a lighter, more comfortable, and more operationally effective helmet system that reduces fatigue while enabling Marines to fully employ critical mission systems. The FAST IHS helmet represents the next evolution of Marine Corps headborne protection. By combining the proven ballistic performance of the ECH helmet with the advanced integration, comfort, and lightweight technologies pioneered through the Special Operations community, we are delivering a capability that better supports the modern Marine across the full spectrum of missions.