"Rearward visibility is poor and is going to get pilots killed." Paraphrased from a few years ago.
Today's reply:
Here, put on this helmet, hit that switch, look down and tell me what you see.
"Hey, that's the runway!"
Now look over your shoulder and down; tell me what you don't see.
"Hey, I can't see the airframe."
Welcome to the dispersed aperture global view camera system!
They've compromised the Mk 1 Mod 0 eyeball system, yes, but the camera system should make up for it. The best part about it is the hardware is nothing special, thus displays (pun) damn near tedious reliability. The new bit here is the software, which I will admit is chock full of bugs and teething problems; but every report about new revisions is showing positive and steady progress.
I think this little monster is going to be a winner someday.
I only wish that it wasn't so constrained by the USMC part. Looking at what the F-35 program costs I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't have been cheaper to pull an SCB-125 on the LHDs and LHAs; tell the Marines they were getting the Navy version and said the same thing to the Air Force.
You have to admit the Phantom II was a wildly successful program and it remains the sole example that all three tactical aviation arms bought.
Today's reply:
Here, put on this helmet, hit that switch, look down and tell me what you see.
"Hey, that's the runway!"
Now look over your shoulder and down; tell me what you don't see.
"Hey, I can't see the airframe."
Welcome to the dispersed aperture global view camera system!
They've compromised the Mk 1 Mod 0 eyeball system, yes, but the camera system should make up for it. The best part about it is the hardware is nothing special, thus displays (pun) damn near tedious reliability. The new bit here is the software, which I will admit is chock full of bugs and teething problems; but every report about new revisions is showing positive and steady progress.
I think this little monster is going to be a winner someday.
I only wish that it wasn't so constrained by the USMC part. Looking at what the F-35 program costs I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't have been cheaper to pull an SCB-125 on the LHDs and LHAs; tell the Marines they were getting the Navy version and said the same thing to the Air Force.
You have to admit the Phantom II was a wildly successful program and it remains the sole example that all three tactical aviation arms bought.