By John Keller, Military & Aeronautics Electronics

Combat avionics experts at Rockwell Collins-ESA Vision Systems in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the U.S. Navy with 120 head-up helmet-mounted displays for high-performance jet fighter-bombers under terms of a $20.9 million order announced Tuesday.

Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking Rockwell Collins-ESA Vision Systems to provide 140 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing system, Night Vision Cueing and Display systems (NVCD) for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 jet fighter-bomber squadrons.

The NVCD is part of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), which projects symbology and imagery onto the pilot’s helmet-mounted visor to help meet the workload of operating the aircraft; detecting, tracking, and engaging targets; and dealing with emergency situations.

It enables high-performance jet fighter and bomber pilots to cue weapons and sensors at night.

(The Digital-JHMCS (Digital Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System) is a daily companion for thousands of F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 fighter pilots worldwide. An advanced Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) system, based on new technology developed for commercial aviation, Digital-JHMCS is a plug-and-play system to aircraft installed with the operationally-proven JHMCS, which was launched in 2000 and is in service with over 20 air forces around the world. No aircraft installation or modification is required, only a simple upgrade of the HMD. This allows the pilot to benefit from advanced video and color capabilities in both day and night missions, using a modern, lightweight, well-balanced digital HMD system. Courtesy of Elbit Systems and YouTube. Posted on Dec 29, 2015.)

The system is designed to enable pilots to fly near-daytime tactics at night, while also providing the system’s head-up display data over the eye in addition to camera video recording of the pilot’s viewpoint.

Rockwell Collins-ESA Vision Systems is a partnership of Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Elbit Systems of America in Fort Worth, Texas.

The NVCD enables aircrews simultaneously to display radar and navigation symbology on the helmet’s display and cue short-range air-to-air missiles. It helps pilots identify terrain, targets, and other aircraft at night.

The JHMCS and NVCD are mounted on a lightweight HGU 55/P helmet shell that can accommodate the day or night modules.

The system offers a 100-by-40-degree field of view or 40 degrees circular, with symbology or video inserted into the night-vision scene.

(Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems’ F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) is the world’s most advanced binocular HMDS for the world’s most advanced tactical aircraft. It’s integrated head-up display is the first to provide pilots with all the critical information they need on the helmet’s visor ensuring that every mission, day or night, has unsurpassed situational awareness, tactical capability and safety. Courtesy of Rockwell Collins and YouTube. Posted on Jul 1, 2014.)

On this contract Rockwell Collins-ESA Vision Systems will do the work in Merrimack, N.H.; Wilsonville, Ore.; Atlanta; and Fort Worth, Texas, and should be finished by July 2020.

For more information contact Rockwell Collins online at www.rockwellcollins.com, Elbit Systems of America at www.elbitsystems-us.com, or the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at www.navair.navy.mil/nawcad.

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