TopOwl proving itself

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 fully 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.