By Jim Jenkins, NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs

PATUXENT RIVER, MD — Following a thorough trade study, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., announced May 31 it will incorporate the Thales Avionics helmet-mounted display system into the new H-1 attack and utility helicopters for the Marine Corps.

Bell is expected to equip 180 AH-1Zs and 100 UH-1Ys with the system, which is already in use in the Eurocopter Tiger, NH-90 and South African Rooivalk helicopters. Thales is scheduled to deliver 16 pre-production units beginning in November for testing, with production of 560 TopOwl units to start in early 2004.

A helmet-mounted display is a safety tool which primarily provides essential flight data to both the pilot and co-pilot in a heads-up fashion. The heads-up display, mounted on the helmet, allows the pilots to fly the aircraft and fight the enemy without looking away. All the information he needs is directly in front of him at all times.

“The primary thing is flight safety, heads-up situational awareness,” said Maj. Harry Hewson, H-1 Upgrades deputy for operations. “The secondary thing it does is it puts night vision, weapons sighting and weapons control, all in one integrated package on the pilot’s head.”

With previous versions of the Cobra, Hewson explained that the heads-up display was mounted on the control panel in front of the glare shield, and only for the backseat driver. The Thales system frees both pilots from having to look at one specific area in the cockpit, and constantly looking down at gauges, giving them enhanced survivability and capability to win the battle.

Bell chose the TopOwl for many reasons, but key to the decision was the fact that the system was already in production and would be easily integrated into the AH-1Z/UH-1Y. Other advantages of the TopOwl include the ergonomic design, visor projection technology, image intensifiers, FLIR capability, the nuclear/biological/chemical readiness and its light weight. With everything in place, the Thales system weighs approximately 4.5 pounds.

“They actually measure your head with a laser scanner,” said Dan Wright, H-1 Avionics Upgrade lead. “So, when you put the liner in the visor, which among other things is your sight, is perfectly fitted to your eyes and your head shape.”

The result is that pilots have a helmet that is stable and is fitted to a specific face and eyes which aids in weapons accuracy and comfort.

During the trade study randomly selected helicopter pilots tried the Thales system to help assess its usefulness. Many of them were amazed at the comfort and the ease of use.

“Most comfortable helmet system I have ever worn,” one pilot said. “Custom fit process allowed for helmet to be specifically tailored to my head ... resulted in unprecedented wearer comfort.”

Another advantage the TopOwl has is its ability to transition from day to night vision with a flick of a switch. Using generation IV omnibus V tubes located at the side of the user’s head, visual information is projected to the visor allowing the wearer to read as well as see through the information. The information is superimposed over what normally would be seen.

“With night vision goggles you have a very difficult time getting depth perception because essentially its giving you a two dimensional image,” said Hewson, himself a career Super Cobra pilot. “Now you have built-in depth perception because what this does is put green and black, scaled night color, over top of those images. Wherever you’re looking, it gives you the picture over top so it creates depth perception.”

There are no optical elements between the eyes and the visor. The Thales visor provides greater outside world transmission, unimpaired landscape perception, undiminished, peripheral vision and an optimum center of gravity. The visual comfort provides for greater safety – fatigue is minimal if existent at all.

“The Top Owl system provided a seamless transition from all environments,” said another pilot who evaluated the system. “The dual visor arrangement was excellent for day usage, especially as sunset is approached or during a day of heavy cloud cover such as the evaluation day. The ability to have both your day system and night system on at the same time will provide for a quick and seamless transition from day to NVD helmet usage with the push of a button ...”

TopOwl has the only integrated intensification technology existing today that provides gain and resolution suitable for low level and nap of the earth night flying, according to a Thales release. The night vision device portion provides a very high system output gain of greater than 3,200 with a class B filter and greater than 4,000 without a filter.

The system also boasts the only intensification technology architecture capable of providing a safety performance compatible with low level and nap of the earth night flight. Thales safety specifications state that in case of failure of the helmet display electronics, the optically coupled image intensification tube technology automatically switches to an integral back-up battery where night vision is still available.

In addition to the night vision ability and comfort level of the TopOwl, the system offers virtual heads-up display selections as well. Hewson explained that the system recognizes the difference between the direction the user is looking and the aircraft is going.

If the pilot is looking south and the aircraft is flying west, the helmet system will let the pilot know both positions, Hewson said. Also, if a pilot has rockets selected for his primary weapon and scans the horizon, the rocket reticule will only appear when it is safe to use that weapon.

Bell’s choice for using the TopOwl system for the H-1 Upgrade Program has the potential to open the door wider for use in the Marine’s other aircraft such as the V-22 Osprey and other platforms.

The future is wide open for the TopOwl system as it has an open architecture that allows expansion of its capabilities for future technology. As technology gets smarter, so, too, does TopOwl.

“[The open architecture] allows for growth and modularity and for moving stuff around in the future,” Wright said.

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PHOTO CUTLINE

topowl.jpg -- A member of the H-1 Integrated Test Team at NAS Patuxent River, Md, tries the Thales Avionics Top Owl helmet-mounted display system recently selected by Bell Helicopter Textron to equip the next generation Huey and Super Cobra, currently in flight test at Pax. Bell is expected to equip 180 AH-1Zs and 100 UH-1Ys with the system, which is already in use in the Eurocopter Tiger, NH-90 and South African Rooivalk helicopters. Official USMC photo.