For the price I was expecting some sort of plastic shell. This is a solid helmet. I was surprised at the quality. It is not ballistic but you could take a bat to the head with this thing. The pads connect easily and are very comfortable. It appears to be two pieces and you could adjust the size of the shell if you have a big melon head. My main use will be as an NVG mount as opposed to the skull crusher straps. The NVG sheath is aluminum I don't know how well that will work but I can easily replace it with a wilcox sheath with the screws and holes that are already there.