RAF to get Star Wars-style helmets (For F-35 Joint Strike Fighter)

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | November 9, 2007 | Nic Fleming

[Stoat]

RAF to get Star Wars-style helmets

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
 

Last Updated: 3:22pm GMT 09/11/2007

 

 

Pilots flying the next generation of jet fighters will use futuristic, Star Wars-style helmets, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.

The headgear being developed for the new, American-built F35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will display navigation and targeting information on the inside of the pilot’s visor.

Precision head tracking software will allow pilots to "see through" the cockpit floor, with infra-red images of the ground below, during day or night time, being beamed in front of their eyes.

The advanced helmet mounted display is reminiscent of systems used by Luke Skywalker and pilots of enemy imperial TIE fighters in the first Star Wars film Episode IV: A New Hope, released in 1977.

Ministry of Defence scientists have been putting prototypes through tests at RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.

A spokesman for the MoD said: "Unlike other jet aircraft, the JSF, which is planned to replace the Harrier, does not have a traditional head-up display.

"Instead the computerised symbology will be displayed directly on to the pilot’s visors, providing the pilot with cues for flying, navigating and fighting the aircraft.

"It even will superimpose infra-red imagery on to the visor to allow the pilot to look through the cockpit floor at night and see the world below.

"This is absolutely the cutting edge of technology. No other helmet will be able to do this." This summer the Government announced plans to build two new 65,000-ton aircraft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales, at a cost of around £4 billion.

The ships will each carry 40 of the F35 fighters or 25 Chinook helicopters.

The helmet mounted display system is being developed by California-based Vision Systems International and British company Helmet Integrated Systems Limited.

[Stoat]

RAF pilots to get X-ray eyes The Sun HomePageNews

 

See also:

F-35 HMDS for the Joint Strike Fighter

VSI is now under contract to develop the Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Some of the features that will be provided by this next generation helmet system include:
 

• Binocular Wide Field-of-View
• Integrated day/night capability with sensor fusion
• Highly accurate head tracking hardware and software
• Digital image source for helmet vision displayed symbology
• Custom helmet shell, liner and suspension system for lightest weight, optimal C.G. and maximum pilot comfort.

Helmet Integrated Systems Limited - Military & Civil Aircrew Helmets

[Snickersnee]

OMG.

[stboz]

Luke, I am your father!

[Redcloak]

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

[navyguy]

May the Force be with you...

[VOA]

VERY nice to see somebody with a bit of style-sense was present
at the design sessions for this headgear.

That should keep the hostiles spooked for now.

Until they realize they are getting smoked by the new Reaper UAV
piloted by some guy in a nicely airconditioned facility back in
the USA...sipping some Red Bull before receiving permission to launch
missles and/or bombs on the target somewhere on the other side of
the world.

[taildragger]

Hi I am Helen Thomas, Happy Halloween!

Big Improvement....

[Stoat]

F-35 Lightning II Program

The F-35 Lightning II Program (also known as the Joint Strike Fighter Program) is the Department of Defense's focal point for defining affordable next generation strike aircraft weapon systems for the Navy, Air Force, Marines, and our allies. The F-35 is the next generation strike fighter bringing cutting-edge technologies to the battlespace of the future. The JSFs advanced airframe, autonomic logistics, avionics, propulsion systems, stealth, and firepower will ensure that the F-35 is the most affordable, lethal, supportable and survivable aircraft ever to be used by so many warfighters across the globe.

Following an intense four-year competition, the U.S. Department of Defense on 26 October 2001, named the Lockheed Martin lead Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) team as the winner of the contract to develop the F-35 JSF. The F-35 team immediately entered the program’s 10-year System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase.

The SDD period involves the development and testing of the entire aircraft system, including its manufacture. During SDD, the team will build a total of 22 test aircraft. Fourteen will undergo flight-testing, seven will be used for non-airborne test activities, and one will be used to evaluate the F-35’s radar signature.

Nine nations are partnering in the F-35’s SDD phase: The United States, United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Australia. Partnership in SDD entitles those countries to bid for work on a best value basis, and participate in the aircraft’s development. Additionally, Israel and Singapore have agreed to join the program as a Security Cooperation Participants.

Lockheed Martin is the F-35 prime contractor, while Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems are principal partners in the project.

Final assembly of the F-35 will take place at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Fort Worth, Texas. Northrop Grumman Corporation in Palmdale and El Segundo, California will manufacture the center-fuselage, and the aft fuselage and tails will be manufactured by BAE Systems in Samlesbury, England. Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth will manufacture the forward fuselage and wings.

Flight-testing will be conducted at Fort Worth, Edwards Air Force Base, and Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Additionally, the STOVL and CV variants will undergo sea trials aboard American, British and Italian aircraft carriers.

Aerospaceweb.org Aircraft Museum - F-35 Lightning II

[VOA]

Precision head tracking software will allow pilots to
"see through" the cockpit floor, with infra-red images of the
ground below, during day or night time, being beamed in front of
their eyes.

That "heads-UP" display is so twentieth-century!

Seriously, this virtually-transparent cockpit thing just sounds
pretty amazing.
(well, at least "transparent" for a fair part of the surface
area of the cockpit, apparently)

[swmobuffalo]

I’d hate to have to try and get that thing off in an emergency!

Reckon it’ll come with a quick-release button?

[A_Tradition_Continues]

Add a few whiskers to that thing and you’ve got a cat’s face.

[Stoat]

I’d hate to have to try and get that thing off in an emergency!

Reckon it’ll come with a quick-release button?

Considering how dangerous an inflight ejection from a jet aircraft is, I would imagine that all connecting hoses and cables will be sheared or quick-released in some fashion, so that the helmet will continue to protect the pilot's head in an emergency ejection.

I’d hate to have to try and get that thing off in an emergency!

Reckon it’ll come with a quick-release button?

[Nasty McPhilthy]

Whoa, dude!

[1rudeboy]

"All your base are belong to us."

[Stoat]

Seriously, this virtually-transparent cockpit thing just sounds
pretty amazing.

Indeed it does...the pilot will now have dramatically increased vision and perspective.  There will be fewer ways that Muhammed can hide now   :-)

Muhammed: "Okay, Achmed, let's jump into this trench to hide from the infidel!"

RAF pilot: "If you try to run and hide, you'll only die tired"

[Stoat]

VERY nice to see somebody with a bit of style-sense was present
at the design sessions for this headgear.

LMAO!

I suspect that having it be appropriate for Jennifer Lopez to wear at a Hollywood party was probably not among the design parameters   :-)

That should keep the hostiles spooked for now.

Until they realize they are getting smoked by the new Reaper UAV
piloted by some guy in a nicely airconditioned facility back in
the USA...sipping some Red Bull before receiving permission to launch
missles and/or bombs on the target somewhere on the other side of
the world.

Those UAV's are just so wonderful....they're getting bigger and better all the time....and smaller too...there are tiny dragonfly-sized UAV's for intelligence-gathering as well.

VERY nice to see somebody with a bit of style-sense was present
at the design sessions for this headgear.

LMAO!

I suspect that having it be appropriate for Jennifer Lopez to wear at a Hollywood party was probably not among the design parameters   :-)

That should keep the hostiles spooked for now.

Until they realize they are getting smoked by the new Reaper UAV
piloted by some guy in a nicely airconditioned facility back in
the USA...sipping some Red Bull before receiving permission to launch
missles and/or bombs on the target somewhere on the other side of
the world.

[Eye of Unk]

Personally I think the pilots shouldn’t even be in the aircraft. Make them with an AI and the ability to make 30G turns.

[Stoat]

Personally I think the pilots shouldn’t even be in the aircraft. Make them with an AI and the ability to make 30G turns.

With the increasing sophistication of UAV's, I'm sure that such a thing will be commonplace in many scenarios one day.

And as speeds increase beyond the ability of human pilots to react fast enough, computers will take over more and more operational and flying functions..

[armymarinemom]

[Vroomfondel]

ping