A novel spatial soliton-bearing wave equation is introduced, the Helmholtz-Manakov (H-M) equation, for describing the evolution of broad multi-component self-trapped beams in Kerr-type media. By omitting the slowly-varying envelope approximation, the H-M equation can describe accurately vector solitons propagating and interacting at arbitrarily large angles with respect to the reference direction. The H-M equation is solved using Hirota’s method, yielding four new classes of Helmholtz soliton that are vector generalizations of their scalar counterparts. General and particular forms of the three invariants of the H-M system are also reported
