Bomb Disposal Suits: Everything You Need To Know

Bomb suits are also known as EOD suits (Explosive Ordnance Disposal). These suits have emerged as the apex of years of innovation. The suits have a futuristic design and construction, which helps minimise the effects of an explosion on the wearer. When checking out the bomb disposal suit price, you can also pay close attention to the features and innovative design of the suits to get to know more about them.

Elements Of An Explosion

Before you start looking for bomb suit suppliers and bomb disposal suit price, it would be better if you understand all the aspects of an explosion as well as their impact on bomb suits.

There are three important elements of a bomb explosion that makes them so deadly. First is the blast, a slew of outward forces that tremendously affects the body. Explosive devices like TNT are extremely powerful and may also have functional purposes for mining. The second element is the fragmentation that the explosion carries with it. These fragments can either be the casing of the explosive or from the surrounding objects like metal or glass. Remember that this fragmentation can be as dangerous as the blast itself since it propels sharp objects at high speeds in all directions.

The third component includes the thermal aspect of the explosion. Although explosions can differ in style, composition and appearance, most carry significant and lethal thermal risks.

However, the dangerous thermal area of a bomb is limited, especially when compared to the blast radius. But some military tests have recorded temperatures as high as 2480 degree celsius when measured at the source, which is quite fatal.

Creation Of Bomb Suits

Modern bomb suits provide adequate protection as they have been created using high-tech materials. Let us see the parts that make up a bomb suit and what goes into their creation.

Helmet

The helmet is the most important part of the suit; it protects the wearer’s head, an essential aspect to cover. The helmet is constructed with a solid material, mostly polyethene composite, with extremely high tensile strength. The helmet’s visor is transparent and difficult to build because most see-through materials do not provide suitable power against an explosion. So the visor is made from polycarbonate, which is an advanced material used for crash helmets. The helmet of a bomb suit needs to have some inbuilt technology like defogging and communications. Hence, it is wired up to a wrist control panel from which the wearer can operate various functions like managing the suit’s cooling and radioing to their teammates.

Chest, Arms And Torso

The top half of the suit, which is the second important aspect, protects the arms, chest and torso, and vital organs.

This part of the suit comprises multiple layers of Kevlar, a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fibre, and is multipurpose in its use. The molecular design of Kevlar makes it extremely difficult to puncture as it removes the energy from the object by dispersing it over a large area. This is because it is extremely strong to protect against fragmentation as well as heat resistance against thermal risk.

The Kevlar is covered by another material called Nomex, a fire-retardant polymer that does not melt, drip, or conduct heat. Though it is flammable, it extinguishes if the heat source is removed. Another layer that is added to the bomb suit is a blast plate made of steel. This plate is attached to the front of the suit in order to cover all the vital organs. It is designed to absorb the blast pressure as much as possible.

You may notice that most bomb suits do not protect your hands since efficiency is more important than protection. So the wearer is able to remain proficient with their hands and fingers, thus reducing the possibility of making any mistakes or accidents. Even in the worstcase scenario, hands are down; the priority list is fairly low.

Bottom Half

The bottom half or trousers of the bomb suit are also created using multiple layers of Kevlar, followed by Nomex. The only difference is that the bottom half comes with an Integrated Groin Plate (IGP), also known as the ‘diaper. IGP offers added protection to the groin region while also maximising flexibility.

Some suits also come with boot covers that protect the feet. Enhanced foot protection is required since most disposals occur by the bomb diffuser crouching or kneeling to access the explosive.

Other Optional Accessories

You can also find some other optional accessories that accompany bomb suits, like carrier bags, ballistic helmets with face shields, and hard armour panels.

Takeaway

The bomb suits have ergonomic designs that allow the operator to use the EOD tools and related equipment with great ease and are available in various colours, including olive drab, desert tan, or navy blue. The suits are constructed from high-strength ballistic soft armour, followed by high-strength, hard-wear outer shells made with Nomex, a fire-retardant fabric. The suits come with front and rear pockets to insert hard armour plates. Some helmets also have a remote control module to control the EOD HS helmet functions better.