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Sextant faces an unexpected contest for the Rafale helmet-mounted display, as BAe Systems gears up for flight trials of the Typhoon KMD
In a surprise move, France is lining up later this year to conduct what amounts to a US-style foreign comparative test (FCT) programme of helmet-mounted display (HMD) systems for the Dassault Aviation Rafale. As unwelcome as this development would appear to be for Sextant - which was considered by most observers to have the Rafale HMD production contract in the bag - the French company remains optimistic. "We are ready," says Christian Michaudet, strategy and development director for military aircraft at Sextant. "We believe we have the right product to win."
Sextant's competition in this evaluation is likely to come from Israel's Elbit Systems and the former Marconi Avionics unit of BAe Systems. Michaudet says that the reason for the FAF's snap decision to hold the HMD evalution is not down to any underperformance of its own `Topsight' helmet technology, but a potential widening of the requirement to include the FAF's Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters; and for this, the air force wants to take a step back and see what other technologies may be available.
Sextant's new helmet is a very different system from the original Topsight HMD, Michaudet says. The key to its accurate head position measurement inside the harsh combat cockpit environment rests with its electromagnetic head-tracking system, officials say, which has been extensively proven in flight test. Other salient features are its monocular display and 20 deg field of view (FOV) - the latter modest in comparison with other leading helmets on the market. In ejection-tests, the system has been windblast-proven to 625 knots.
While relishing the opportunity to do battle with BAe and Elbit on home soil, Michaudet is more philosophical about Sextant's chances in the export market. Customers operating US fighters will inevitably choose a US helmet (the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System [JHMCS] from Vision Systems International, the Kaiser Electronics and Elbit joint venture), while Eurofighter Typhoon customers will choose the BAe HMD, he says.
This leaves a potential market for Topsight on French-manufactured fighters and one that is likely to be more hotly contested on fighters of Russian design. Within Europe itself, all European nations...