BAE Systems has been selected by Lockheed Martin to modernise head-up displays (HUD) on F-16 aircraft for the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, replacing the fleet’s analogue system with advanced digital technology.
The HUD, which sits directly in a pilot’s line of sight, is a see-through display that presents real-time, flight-critical information without obstructing his or her view of the outside world say BAE.
BAE Systems will use its cutting-edge Digital Light Engine (DLE) technology to implement a HUD upgrade that integrates seamlessly into the F-16’s existing HUD space, requiring no changes to the aircraft, cabling, or computing. The advancement will remove the outdated cathode ray tube image source and replace it with a digital projector.
“To the naked eye, the pilot sees no difference in performance when our DLE HUD is installed. It retains the existing optics, video camera, and control panel,” said Andy Humphries, director of Advanced Displays at BAE Systems. “The real difference is the significant cost savings our customer will experience over the product’s life cycle as a result of reduced maintenance and spares requirements.”
BAE say that the fully digital system has the potential to reduce life-cycle costs by 20 percent and offers at least four times the reliability of legacy analogue systems. The DLE HUD features high-resolution symbology that is viewable under any flight condition, and it is designed to accommodate future advancements in symbology and video.
In 2017, the DLE technology was selected to modernise the F-22 HUD for the US Air Force. The company provided the original analogue HUDs for both the F-16 and F-22 aircraft.
I think this, and a rash of articles about BAE, show that its interests are prioritising on anything apart from building a limited and reducing number of warships for the Royal Navy, and in a lot of ways, who can blame them? T45 from 12 to 8 to 6 actually built. T26 from 13 to 8 and perhaps even to 6 built. And even Astute with murmurs of reducing from 7 to 6. There’s little profit to be made there, for a lot of headaches, investment, risk and uncertaintty. And all too often to end up with a design which… Read more »
BAE have always done far more than ships. The RN builds are a small part of its business.
I know, but there seems to be a lot more going on at the moment, all at the same time.
You don’t think it might be that Bae are successful around the world or does that not fit in with glum?