Bomb suit
EOD technicians wear bomb suits during reconnaissance, "render safe" or disruption procedures on potential or confirmed explosive threats.
Such suits must provide a tremendous degree of protection from fragmentation, blast overpressure, thermal and tertiary effects should the threat device detonate.
Modern day EOD units had their beginnings in World War II, when the German Luftwaffe greatly increased the number of bombs dropped on British soil.
As the number of civilian casualties grew due to delayed explosion of bombs, which had often penetrated several feet into the ground after being dropped from planes, men were trained to defuse the unexploded devices and groups were dedicated to try to keep up with that task.
As the United States saw its likely involvement in World War II, they requested help from the British to train a civilian EOD force that could defuse unexploded bombs in urban areas.
For example, a modern bomb suit may address both conventional blast threats and chemical/biological agents by incorporating a chemical protective undergarment and a helmet compatible with a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).
Developers must consider more than just protection, since a person must work on a stressful task that also requires fine motor skills while wearing a bomb suit.
It is important that the fibers are strain-rate sensitive, or become more rigid if struck by an object traveling at high speeds, according to a ballistics engineer working for bomb suit manufacturer HighCom Security.
However, it was also shown that it is important to understand the frequency content of the applied blast wave and to experimentally test the way materials are put together to make sure they are effective.
Since the entire body needs protection, the resulting bomb suit is heavy (80 lb (36 kg) or more), hot to the point of risking heat stress, and impairs movement.
One manufacturer's study claims that the internal cooling systems on 39 to 81 lb (18 to 37 kg) bomb suits helped the wearer stay at workable temperatures for up to an hour, even in a hot environment.
