Revolutionary F-35 Joint Strike Fighter pilot's smart helmet will cost more than a house ($770,000)

[Victorious Secret]

 

War can be brutal but that doesn't seem to get in the way of the tech that powers the wars from becoming even more complex and quite frankly awesome. 

 

The helmet will incorporate display systems that show data on a screen that sits just millimetres from the pilots face and takes in tactical data from the plane to display all manner of mission info and threat detection. 

 

You also get to enjoy a x-ray vision when looking down through the floor, since the system uses external sensors on the plane to give you that kind of projection capability. So yea, we're basically at the Iron Man HUD. Just needs to cost less than $770,000...

 

 

"The pilot sees a beautiful God's eye view of what's going on," US Air Force General Mike Hostage told the Breaking Defense website. "It's a stunning amount of information."

 

It takes a four-hour sitting, spread over two days, to custom fit a helmet. The optics package on the display visor must be lined up to within two millimeters of the exact centre of each of the pilots' pupils.

 

The fighter jet won't operate if the headgear is malfunctioning and unless the pilot is wearing their bespoke helmet. And there are no spares. Each pilot is only issued with the one.

The helmets receive data from six electro-optical Distributed Aperture System (DAS) sensors which are located on the body of the plane. These sensors, cylindrical objects embedded with multiple lenses, are about the size of a garden light.

 

"We can't talk in detail about what's in there, but what's in there is incredibly sophisticated," said Mr Sonny Foster, the director of Asia Pacific sales for Rockwell Collins Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/revolutionary-f35-joint-strike-fighter-pilots-smart-helmet-will-cost-a-bomb-20150224-13ko9d.html

[wyattzx]

eyyy lmao i bet the projection is 900p30fps

 

 

This sounds badass.

[dadasmithywinkle]

Actually sounds pretty good but defense contractors are there to make money, and dont tend to give much of a discount.

[Levent]

yeah only if they fucking fix the plane.

[Prikk]

Well that is actually pretty cheap considering they're just casually firing a bunch of million dollars tomahawks.

[givingtnt]

f35's are shitty anyway. id rather buy su-50's

[Real_PhillBert]

This isnt really anything new. I read once that he old F/A-18 helmets were ~$100,000.

 

Everything about military aviation is expensive.

[RexinOridle]

Massdrop and Kickstarter anybody?

[coen113]

Too bad they are so damn expensive

[XTankSlayerX]

"The pilot sees a beautiful God's eye view of what's going on," US Air Force General Mike Hostage told the Breaking Defense website. "It's a stunning amount of information."

 

What happened to birds eye view?

 

770k for a helmet? damn...

[brownninja97]

I want one, i could use it for, things....

[Misanthrope]

I'd be more impressed with more drones that don't risk pilots. Or better still not having fucking wars

[Real_PhillBert]

I'd be more impressed with more drones that don't risk pilots. Or better still not having fucking wars

Good luck on the no wars part, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the last major manned fighter bomber design the US undertakes. 

 

[multifrag]

Just replace him with a drone... Air fleet cost billions of dollar and drones already do the dirty work for usa and other countries. Make more sophisticated AI and it will be easy to mass produce...

[Deli]

The final cost will usually be much higher, like many US military projects. Never mind, US military has money to burn, billions of US tax payers' money, that is.

[JAKEBAB]

yeah only if they fucking fix the plane.

 

 

f35's are shitty anyway. id rather buy su-50's

Please elaborate as to why there bad/need fixing?

[Victorious Secret]

Please elaborate as to why there bad/need fixing?

 

They don't. They are having the same teething problems that every single cutting edge jet before them had, especially one so advanced. The only difference is that the F35 is more expensive since its so advanced and its become the public scapegoat for cost overruns. 

 

Its not the most disastrous program nor is it the most expensive. This is par for the course in fighter jet development. Some say the F35 is unneeded since the USAF still has a fleet that can kick the crap out of anything on Earth but the JSFs came up with a fighter that fit more roles and theoretically will replace dozens of planes once it goes fully operational. 

[givingtnt]

Please elaborate as to why there bad/need fixing?

they cost an enormous amount of money for something that was supposed to be cheap, 

 

single engines is a stupid mistake 

small wings and bulky body = horrible maneuverability 

vertical takeoff, ok but takes away space and performance (also, canada doesen't need it and its simply reducing performance for no reasons)

[JAKEBAB]

they cost an enormous amount of money for something that was supposed to be cheap, 

 

single engines is a stupid mistake 

small wings and bulky body = horrible maneuverability 

vertical takeoff, ok but takes away space and performance (also, canada doesen't need it and its simply reducing performance for no reasons)

Have you flown one of these personally? how do you know this?

[pit5000]

defense contractors rip us off big time, and they know it, and the admit it too.

It does not cost $100 change a screw on a F22, but they can charge whatever they want because they built the plane.

[Toddwjp]

AMERICA, you gotta pay the defence contractors moeny otherwise they will stop paying for your seat in goverment

 

[-MOBIUS-]

I wonder if they fixed the plane

[RichardsD]

and in other news

 

the revolutionary F35 JSF cannot use its' gun until 2017 due to not having the correct software

 

But back on topic, I am really not surprised by this.  Military equipment has to meet many specifications and go through rigorous testing, not to mention the massive R&D, so things like this especially as a first gen product are very expensive.

[givingtnt]

Have you flown one of these personally? how do you know this?

I know a lot about aviation and technical stuff about airplanes, im studing as a pilot and I even give classes about that to kids (RCAC)

[pit5000]

AMERICA, you gotta pay the defence contractors moeny otherwise they will stop paying for your seat in goverment

 

 

that graph is misleading due to PPP and the potentials of espionage