UH-1Y Flies Thales Helmet Display

The first fully-configured Bell UH-1Y upgraded for the US Marine Corps flew for the first time with the Thales TopOwl Integrated Helmet Mounted Display Sighting System (IHMDSS) at Patuxent River Naval Air Warfare Center on October 9. Initial day-only flights with the IHMDSS will enable test pilots to compare helmet symbology with that on the Multi-Function Displays of the modernized UH-1Y cockpit. Familiarization flights without symbology on legacy AH-1W and UH-1N aircraft in late October will prepare test pilots for night trials on the upgraded UH-1Y in November and on the AH-1Z in December.

Both the UH-1Y utility and AH-1Z attack helicopters use the same IHMDSS to superimpose flight, navigation, and targeting symbology over daytime and night Image Intensified (I2) landscapes. The magnetically-tracked helmet incorporates high-resolution image intensifier tubes and provides a 40 by 40 degree display field of view. Initial H-1 upgrade plans do not call for the helmet video display to superimpose symbology over Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) imagery.

While both the UH-1Y and AH-1Z avionics systems will provide the same helmet display symbology, AH-1Z-unique software adds launch constraint and time-of-flight information for Hellfire missiles. Preliminary weapons trials are expected in February or March 2004.

First flight of the IHMDSS was preceded by ground-based safety-of-flight tests to assess the impact protection of the helmet and the resolution and brightness of the display. The Naval Air Systems Command has sent a helmet to the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker for sound attenuation testing. Thales is scheduled to deliver 560 production TopOwl helmets starting in early 2004.

The two UH-1Y test aircraft have finished modifications to incorporate complete Northrop Grumman Integrated Avionics Suites. Two fully equipped AH-1Z test aircraft are expected to be flying by the end of the year. Combined UH-1Y/AH-1Z Operational Evaluation is scheduled to begin in October 2004 and stretch into 2005. Production plans still call for 180 AH-1Zs and 100 UH-1Ys, with low rate initial production beginning in fiscal 2004 and full-rate production starting in fiscal 2006. Initial operational capability with the UH-1Y and AH-1Z is scheduled for March, 2008.

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