The Air Force is working to make the capabilities of Boeing’s joint helmet-mounted cueing system available to pilots around the clock vice just the daytime under a joint project with the Navy. Speaking at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement’s Sensor-to-Shooter conference April 1 in Arlington, Va., Col. Robert Stambaugh, commander of the 312th/326th Aeronautical Systems Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, said the two services are developing a night vision cueing and display system that “brings JHMCS to the night fight.” What JHMC does is enhance pilot situational awareness and provide head-up control of aircraft targeting systems and sensors. The pilot is essentially able to detect, acquire, and engage surface and airborne targets using visual displays inside the helmet visor. This capability is sometimes referred to as “look and shoot.” Until now, however, JHMCS, which is resident on F-15s and F-16s as well as Navy F/A-18s, has been limited to the day, but the NVCD add-on will change that, Stambaugh said. The system is in qualification testing and the Air Force expects to field it in the 2009-10 period.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
