China GK80A steel helmet PLA issue

Chinese People's Liberation army issue Model GK80A ,

Introduced in the late 1970s this was one of several helmet designs used by the People’s Republic of China. This particular model, the GK 80a, was also exported in large numbers to Albania and Algeria.

For much of the time since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) did not use an indigenously designed helmet because of the poverty and backwardness of China and its industry. It only used helmets captured during previous wars. As a result many soldiers not wearing helmets suffered head and neck wounds during the Korean War (1950-1953).

The number accounted for more than half of the total Chinese casualties in the war. China didnt successfully develop its first generation of ballistic helmet the GK80 steel helmet until the 1970s.