Australia is spending around $12 billion to purchase 72 super-advanced F-35 fighter jets, but that’s not all, they are also spending $55 million to buy helmets for the super fighters.
The helmet, which is arguably the most expensive and most advanced piece of headgear ever produced will cost $770,000 a piece.
This helmet is an integral part to fly the fighter and incorporates some of the most advanced sensors and display technology in the world.
Unlike every fighter produced, the F-35 does not feature a heads-up display (HUD) inside the cockpit but rather incorporates it in the helmet itself (basically, no helmet, no flying), giving the pilot HUD visibility no matter where he looks and at any angle.
The F-35’s Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) is also fitted with six Distributed Aperture Systems (DAS), which collect information about the ground below and the space around the fighter plane, giving pilots capabilities to see information about the ground in order to better assess targets.
“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.
“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.”
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
