Helmet that allows pilots to see THROUGH the plane

[OrionHunter]

Airmen in new $1trillion F-35 fighter will see the ground thanks to $400,000 piece of headgear​

• Six infrared cameras around the jet give pilots a complete 360 degree view
• Its price tag is millions over original budget due to development problems
• State-of-the-art helmet allows pilot to share information with nearby F-35s
• F-35 Lightning II one of the most complicated weapons systems ever built
• Programmed with over 8 million lines of code, four times more than F-22

Fighter pilots flying the deadly F-35 Lightning II jet have very special secret weapon - a $400,000 helmet that allows them to see through the plane.

Six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft allow its pilots to 'look through' the air-frame, giving them a perfect 360 degree view of their surroundings and enemies.

And all of the information they need to complete their mission - airspeed, altitude and even warnings systems - are projected straight onto the helmet's visor rather than the traditional 'heads-up display'.

High-tech: The F-35 jet's $400,000 helmet (pictured) gives the pilot a 360 degree view around their aircraft and even allows them to see through its frame

Problems: Its staggering $400,000 price tag is millions more than the original budget because of problems in its development

'Al Norman added: 'You can look through the jet's eyeballs to see the world as the jet sees the world.'

Read more here including the videos:

Helmet that allows pilots to see THROUGH the F-35 fighter jet | Daily Mail Online

What's next? Controlling aircraft with your mind?

 

[Gessler]

What's next? Controlling aircraft with your mind?

It's not that big an advancement really...what they're doing is simply put cameras (IR/EO sensors) around
the plane, and beam that visual into the helmet visor instead of the MFDs in the cockpit. Agreed the helmet
is complicated because of this...but in principle it's quite a simple set-up.

F-35 isn't the only plane that has all-round situational awareness (even as of today)...but I personally think
this technology would have been more useful on an air-superiority plane like F-22 or FGFA rather than a
strike fighter which mostly relies on C4ISR inputs and smart-guidance tech to drop the lead on their marks.

 

[daring dude]

that's very good project, but very expensive though... that is the Amount you can easily buy some of the Jets...
but hope , in future when this technology will be more mature, then the cost will drop and accessible by every one..

 

[OrionHunter]

It's not that big an advancement really...what they're doing is simply put cameras (IR/EO sensors) around the plane, and beam that visual into the helmet visor instead of the MFDs in the cockpit. Agreed the helmet is complicated because of this...but in principle it's quite a simple set-up.

Agreed! But if it was that simple, why would it cost a staggering $400,000 a pop?

 

[RAMPAGE]

EOTS yes?

 

[Gessler]

Agreed! But if it was that simple, why would it cost a staggering $400,000 a pop?

Mostly R&D cost rubbing off on the price tag - such a thing has not been done before so obviously the cost
of building one would be high as there would be lots of variables even from the ground-up while making it.

For the capability it offers, even the F-35 price tag is way beyond acceptable.

The companies are milking as much as they can from the DoD and US Govt.

EOTS yes?

EOTS is the one sensor below the cockpit used for painting targets. There are around half-dozen other optical sensors around the plane - but these are not used for targeting, just for scanning that sector and warning against incoming threats.

 

[RAMPAGE]

EOTS is the one sensor below the cockpit used for painting targets. There are around half-dozen other optical sensors around the plane - but these are not used for targeting, just for scanning that sector and warning against incoming threats.

Don't think so. All the sensors are part of EOTS.

 

[Gessler]

Don't think so. All the sensors are part of EOTS.

No, they are not. Only the EOTS below the cockpit is capable of Targeting (that's the T in EOTS). Other optical sensors mostly do the job of MAWS/short-wavelength IR.

 

[RAMPAGE]

No, they are not. Only the EOTS below the cockpit is capable of Targeting (that's the T in EOTS). Other optical sensors mostly do the job of MAWS/short-wavelength IR.

My appologies. I remember now. I confused AN/AAQ 40 with AN/AAQ 37.

AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) for the F-35

@OrionHunter

AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) for the F-35

This is the system.

 

[Gessler]

My appologies. I remember now. I confused AN/AAQ 40 with AN/AAQ 37.

AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) for the F-35

@OrionHunter

AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) for the F-35

This is the system.

Yes - the EO-DAS

 

[holysaturn]

But just doesn't work (it can't even act as a MAWS).The sniper targeting pod is more advanced than EOTS because EOTS has potential for upgrades and improvement.

 

[Gessler]

But just doesn't work (it can't even act as a MAWS).The sniper targeting pod is more advanced than EOTS because EOTS has potential for upgrades and improvement.

Agreed, newer Sniper versions are better. However it's advantage is that it is internally mounted.

 

[Al Bhatti]

What's next? Controlling aircraft with your mind?

Firefox, the novel from 70s

 

[OrionHunter]

Firefox, the novel from 70s

Yep! Sci-fi becoming reality is the new normal!