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TopOwlÒ confirmed as the main mission and piloting equipment for helicopter crews

Written by thomas · Filed Under Aeronautics News 

September 2, 2009

thomas

Neuilly-sur-Seine, 2 September 2009 – TopOwl®, the Helmet Mounted Sight Display
from Thales, is confirmed as the main advanced mission and piloting equipment
available to date, combat proven onboard transport and attack helicopters in current
theatres of operations.
In order to meet the increasingly demanding needs of operational crews and to provide safe
flight operations in difficult visual environments such as brownout and whiteout, since the
beginning of 2009, TopOwl® has participated successfully in a series of demanding flight
tests. For these flight tests, TopOwl® is connected to the latest technology sensors such as
High resolution FLIR.
TopOwl® enables pilots to display high resolution FLIR and high performance night vision
images right in front of their eyes, and to switch easily and instantaneously between both.
Most of the flight tests were conducted in USA, Canada and Australia onboard:
– Black Hawk & Huey with Lockheed Martin (USA)
– Huey with United States Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) (USA),
National Research Council (NRC) (Canada) and Defence Science & Technology
Organization (DSTO) (Australia)
These tests successfully demonstrated that TopOwl® enables pilots to fly “head-up and eyesout”
by day or night in extreme conditions.
Flight tests are currently underway on the Apache with the Army Aviation Applied
Technology Directorate (AATD) (USA) with day and night first flight test phase completed.
The Thales Helmet Mounted Sight and Display is based on a unique concept incorporating a
night vision system with a 100% overlapped projection of a binocular image on the visor.
Standard symbology is used to display flight and weapon management data, helping to
reduce crew workload. TopOwl®’s head position sensor, used during target designation and
weapon firing sequences, enhances operational effectiveness. Pilots particularly appreciate
the low weight and perfect balance of the ergonomically designed helmet sight.
TopOwl® is already installed and ffully operational on 5 major helicopter programmes: Tiger,
NH90, Cobra AH-1Z, Huey UH-1Y and Rooivalk. It is in full-scale production and currently
over 700 helmets have been delivered. More than 1,500 systems will be in service over the
next 10 years. It has been chosen by 15 countries for their army, navy and/or air force attack
and transport helicopters.

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