JHMCS: Fighter Pilot “Look & Shoot” Helmets’ Upgrade, Ups & Downs
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In the 1970s, fighter aircraft began to appear with Head-Up Displays (HUD) that projected key information, targeting crosshairs et. al. onto a seemingly clear piece of glass, so the pilot could keep his eyes on the sky instead of looking down at his instruments. We’ve been wondering when we’d see them in our automobiles ever since. In the 1990s, another innovation appeared: helmet-mounted displays put the HUD inside the pilot’s helmet, providing this information even when the pilot wasn’t looking straight ahead. The Israelis were already using a system called DASH when a set of former East German MiG-29s equipped with HMDs slaughtered USAF F-16s in exercises, and helmet-mounted displays suddenly became must-haves for modern fighters.
The Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) projects visual targeting and aircraft performance information on the back of the helmet’s visor, including aircraft altitude, airspeed, gravitational pull, angle of attack, and weapons sighting, enabling the pilot to monitor this information without interrupting the field of view through the cockpit canopy. The system uses a magnetic transmitter unit fixed to the pilot’s seat and a magnetic field probe mounted on the helmet to define helmet pointing positioning. A Helmet Vehicle Interface (HVI) interacts with the aircraft system bus to provide signal generation for the helmet display. This provides significant improvement for close combat targeting and engagement.
A September 2005 exchange with Boeing enabled DID to gain insights into the rocky past, overall state, and future of a program that has experienced its share of snags and controversy – but gone on to become the #1 helmet-mounted sight in the world today. That information fits nicely with DID’s expansion of our coverage to detail the JHMCS’ game-changing effects on air combat, its production sets and known customers, and all contracts since full-rate production began. The latest item is a contract from Boeing to provide the dual-seat version for use in USAF F-15Es…
- JHMCS: A Combat Multiplier [updated] (i.e. Continue reading…)
- JHMCS: The Program to Date
- JHMCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
- Appendix A: JHMCS History & Challenges
- Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources
Get inside the advanced technology of the JHMCS fighter pilot helmet, when you subscribe to DII. Our cross-linked article network and reference materials include:
- Discussion of how the helmet sight changes air to air combat
- Over 10 photos, and links to supplemental reading materials
- Aircraft that use the JHMCS
- Events chronology, including the early challenges to the program, and milestones such as the first test of Night Vision Cueing and Display (NVCD)
- Related DII coverage including “Boeing Wins $39M for Phase 2 Upgrade of 80 CF-18 Fighters,” “Greek F-16 & Weapons Sale Taking Off,” “$1.1B to Upgrade Turkish F-16 fleet,” and “Boeing Wins $39M for Phase 2 Upgrade of 80 CF-18 Fighters”
- International customer activity, including South Korea, Greece, Pakistan, The Netherlands, Turkey, Poland, Chile, Australia, Canada and Switzerland
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