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Journalism of Courage
A new ‘Top Gun’ X-ray helmet for fighter pilots can allow them to see through their aircraft walls,even if they are looking down.
The Striker helmet,made by a UK firm,interacts with cameras dotted all over the plane. Sensors in the helmet are able to tell exactly where the pilot is looking.
When matched up with cameras around the plane,the helmet system is able to superimpose a picture from the outside of the plane onto the pilots display,allowing them to see through the plane,the BBC news’ reported.
“If a pilot wears a Striker helmet – which is essentially a helmet with an integrated display – when he sees something on the ground he can just turn his head,put a symbol across on to the point of interest,press a button,and the system will calculate the object’s co-ordinates,” Alan Jowett of BAE Systems said.
The technology can even pass the information to a weapon such as an unmanned drone,said Peter Robbie,vice-president of business development at European aerospace and defence firm EADS.
“The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) would be an additional weapons carrier,and the pilot could pass targeting information to it,So if he sees a target,by pressing a button it would become the unmanned vehicle’s target,” Robbie said.
“The pilot could authorise it to drop a missile and then monitor through his helmet where it is going to go,” he said.
The Striker helmet can also be fitted with dual night vision goggles,and BAE says it is even developing a 3D audio system to allow pilots to hear information from all around them.
The system has been compared to playing a video game,Andrew Brookes,a retired RAF pilot told ‘the BBC News’ that pilots have too much technology.
