USAF restores target for F-22 helmet

摘要

Along-running effort to provide pilots of the Lockheed Martin F-22 with a day and night helmet-mounted display (HMD) and cueing system has taken a significant step forward, with the US Air Force publishing a draft programme schedule and requirements list that would deliver an operational system by 2020. The HMD will allow a pilot to visually control sensors and weapons at high off-boresight angles, particularly Raytheon's AIM-9X Block Ⅱ air-to-air missile. Such a capability has been a validated requirement of the F-22 programme since 2007, but cost pressures and sequestration cuts have repeatedly seen the acquisition pushed back. Most recently, a planned demonstration of the Visionix-Gentex Scorpion helmet-mounting cueing system was terminated in 2013.