Description
ULTRALIGHT TITANIUM COMBAT HELMET.
Adept Nova Titanium™
Steel-helmet toughness. Bump helmet weight class. Lower deformation.
Nova Titanium gives you the combination PE helmets find impossible to deliver: Low weight, high toughness, and very low backface deformation — in a shell that never expires.
It is a 920 g all-in, size L/XL high-cut titanium combat helmet: shell, pads, retention, and standard hardware included. It is rated to stop 9mm FMJ at 400 m/s (1,312 ft/s) with low backface deformation, yet it sits at or below the published complete-system weights of the lightest premium PE helmets — and within an ounce of a premium bump helmet.
Ballistic protection, the titanium way.
A continuous 260LC™ titanium shell, drawn into a high-cut combat profile with edge-to-edge coverage. There is no resin matrix holding the ballistic structure together. It does not delaminate after impact. It does not degrade under UV. It does not corrode in salt air, sweat, rain, or storage.
Drop it. Scrape it. Soak it. Store it in a vehicle through a Baltic winter and an Arizona summer. The pads can be replaced. The titanium shell endures.
Why Nova Titanium exists
Premium PE helmets solved weight. They did not solve the helmet.
The best composite helmets are genuinely light — and they are also expensive, thick, soft-shelled, deformation-prone. Their shells also carry a five-year clock; resin ages, laminates hide post-impact damage, and manufacturers generally don’t certify them for ballistic applications after they hit the five-year mark. And they cost $1,400 to $2,100.
Even the protection labels deserve a second look. The NIJ helmet standard (0106.01) contains no Level IIIA at all — “IIIA helmet” claims borrow a level from the body-armor standard, while quietly publishing 9mm data at 364–365 m/s, sometimes under military protocols with relaxed deformation limits. Nova Titanium is rated at 400 m/s, stated plainly.
So ask the question the spec sheets avoid: why pay three to four times more for a helmet that is not lighter, deforms more, ages worse, and is less durable? Nova Titanium is not a nostalgic return to metal helmets.
It is a direct challenge to premium PE: A formed titanium armor shell at approximately 920 g all-in for size L/XL — the same weight class as elite PE helmets and some bump helmets, with the hard-shell advantages PE cannot match.
Same weight class.
Same real ballistic protection.
Lower backface deformation.
Better rigidity and dimensional stability.
Better toughness and durability.
Closer fit, nearer center of gravity, and smaller silhouette.
Indefinite shell life.
At a fraction of the price.
Test report:
Ballistic resistance test
9-mm, 124-grain FMJ
Requested velocity: 1300 ft/s.
Where Nova Titanium Sits in the Market
Adept builds metal combat helmets because metal does what composites cannot: it endures, it covers edge to edge, it resists hidden laminate damage, and it does not expire. Nova Titanium is the lightweight apex of that line.
Nova Titanium
Light, tough, low deformation
Premium titanium construction
The missing category: hard-shell performance at PE weight and a steel-class price
Steel ballistic helmet
Tough, durable, low deformation
Heavier
Nova Titanium keeps the hard-shell advantage without the weight
PE ballistic helmet
Lightweight
Expensive, thick, softer shell behavior, often higher BFD, finite life
Nova Titanium matches the weight while improving shell
rigidity, deformation behavior, and lifespan
Bump helmet
Very light, comfortable
No ballistic protection
Nova Titanium approaches bump-helmet weight with real ballistic protection
Performance
9mm FMJ protection
Rated against 9mm FMJ at 400 m/s (1,312 ft/s) with low backface deformation. That test velocity is roughly 10% faster — about 20% more projectile energy — than the 364–365 m/s (1,195 ft/s) at which the leading premium PE helmets publish their 9mm data.
Backface deformation:
Low. The rigid, ductile titanium shell resists localized inward collapse and spreads impact through the shell and pad system — stiff enough to keep a hit from becoming severe head trauma.
Multi-hit & damage tolerance:
Titanium does not delaminate. A hit may leave a visible mark; it does not create an invisible laminate failure plane. Damage can be seen and evaluated instead of hiding inside a resin stack.
Edge coverage
Continuous protective coverage to the rim. The protected area is the visible shell area — no composite-style weak zone an inch from the edge.
Environmental resilience:
Immune to corrosion, UV, sweat, rain, seawater, oils, fuels, and most solvents. No five-year shell clock: the shell protects for decades; pads and retention are the wear items.
Weight class:
920 g (2.0 lb) all-in — lighter than the published complete-system weights of the Team Wendy EXFIL Ballistic SL, Ops-Core FAST SF, MTEK FLUX Ballistic, and Galvion Caiman Ballistic, and within ~30 g of an Ops-Core FAST Bump XL.
Specifications
Weight:
920 g all-in, size L/XL — shell, pads, retention, and standard hardware. Approx. 2.02 lb.
Shell Material:
260LC™ — Adept’s proprietary toughened titanium armor alloy, combining helmet-scale formability with ballistic toughness.
Ballistic Rating:
9mm FMJ at 400 m/s (1,312 ft/s), with low backface deformation.
Cut:
High-cut, sized to clear modern hearing protection and accept the full Adept accessory ecosystem.
Coverage:
Full edge-to-edge protection to the rim. No unprotected edge band, no thinned-out border.
Sizes:
M and L/XL. Current published all-in weight: L/XL 920 g.
Retention & Pads:
The proven NovaSteel retention system and high-performance pad concept — adjustable, simple, no fragile ratchet mechanisms. Included in the 920 g figure.
Colors:
Black, Green, Raw Titanium.
Compatibility:
Combat Circlet and the complete NovaSteel™ accessory ecosystem — ballistic mandible, Gen 2 flip mandible and faceshield sets, Ventail face protector, helmet tail, NVG shroud, rails, and blast liner.
Service life:
Indefinite titanium shell service life. Pads and soft goods are replaceable wear items.
