Elbit America’s X-Sight helmet aims to redefine insight: Weapon of the Week

[Ryan Robertson]

REGULAR VIEWERS OF THE SHOW WILL KNOW WE HERE AT WEAPONS AND WARFARE ARE BIG FANS OF THE HELMET SYSTEM USED BY F-35 PILOTS. WITH A PRICETAG OF $400K, AND SOME INCREDIBLE CAPABILITIES, WE EVEN FEATURED IT IN OUR SPECIAL ON THE LIGHTNING TWO ASSEMBLY FACILITY. 

SO WHEN THE GOOD FOLKS AT ELBIT AMERICA TOLD US THEY’D HAVE A SIMILAR PRODUCT FOR HELICOPTER PILOTS ON DISPLAY AT THIS YEAR’S AFA WARFARE SYMPOSIUM, WE KNEW WE HAD TO TAKE A LOOK AND SHARE IT WITH YOU IN OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK.

FIRST THINGS FIRST, THE X-SIGHT LOOKS COOL. 

BUT REALLY IT’S WHAT’S ON THE INSIDE THAT MAKES THIS PIECE OF TECH SO APPEALING TO MOST ANYONE THAT’S EVER FLOWN A HELICOPTER.

[Eric “Delta” Burke, Sr. Dir. of Marketing & Business Dev., Elbit America]

“The X-Sight is a binocular visor projected helmet. And so before, when I flew, I flew a monocle based HMD or helmet mounted display, and it was a single, monochrome, very small HMD, and it’s matured over the last 1520 years to where it’s now a instead of monochrome, it’s high resolution, full color as well as the field of regard, or field of view, is now over 60 degrees. And what that does is it allows you to see a lot more information, a lot more symbology, but you could still see through the visor and look outside the aircraft to those things that are important, especially for a rotary wing or helicopter pilot,”

[Ryan]

ERIC BURKE, CALL SIGN DELTA, IS ELBIT AMERICA’S SENIOR DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. HE’S ALSO A FORMER MARINE HELICOPTER PILOT. WHICH GIVES HIM SOME UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO WHAT THE X-SIGHT BRINGS TO THE TABLE. 

[Eric “Delta” Burke, Sr. Dir. of Marketing & Business Dev., Elbit America]

“A helicopter pilot typically is going to fly anywhere between 103 100 feet above the ground, so it is very dangerous, inherently, where a fixed wing pilot could be flying anywhere between 3020 1000 feet so they don’t have to worry about power lines. Mountainous terrain like helicopter pilots have to power lines in particular are very dangerous for helicopter pilots, so flying into those things is obviously very hazardous, where a typical fixed wing pilot doesn’t have to deal with those dangerous situations.”

[Ryan]

“And the X-Sight allows the pilot to be able to recognize those threats a little bit sooner, a little bit quicker. And then, you know, plan accordingly on their flight path?”

[Eric “Delta” Burke, Sr. Dir. of Marketing & Business Dev., Elbit America]

“It does. The X-Sight has both real and augmented reality, and it knows where power lines, power poles, other obstacles, whether it’s man made or even what we call a priori or existing data. So knowing where that is and having that depicted as symbology on the helmet really allows the helicopter pilot to fly and avoid those obstacles”

[Ryan]

THE X-SIGHT ALSO UTILIZES ACTIVE SENSORS SUCH AS LIDAR, T-F/T-A RADAR, AND OBSTACLE WARNING SYSTEMS TO GIVE THE PILOT A 3D REPRESENTATION OF WHAT’S IN FRONT OF THEM. 

ALL THIS INFORMATION IS DISPLAYED ON THE ADVANCED X-SIGHT SCREEN, SPECIFICALLY-DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF TODAY’S PILOTS.

[Eric “Delta” Burke, Sr. Dir. of Marketing & Business Dev., Elbit America]

“As a helicopter pilot, you constantly have to look down at the instrument panel, whether it’s at up on a paper map or digital moving map. You’re always checking your gages, making sure your temperatures and pressures and rpms are all what we call in the green, or operating normally, where now I could look outside the aircraft, and all of those things are being displayed in 3d symbology. And if it’s literally in the green, if the numbers are green, everything’s good. If it’s yellow, you’re getting close to that danger area. And if it’s red, obviously it’s going to get your attention very quickly, and you’re going to be able to address that situation, whether it’s reducing power, increasing your altitude, things of that nature.”

[Ryan]

OF COURSE, THE BIG QUESTION IS ALWAYS HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? WHILE BURKE DIDN’T PROVIDE A NUMBER, HE DID SAY THAT IT COSTS LESS THAN THE PRICE TAG ON THE F-35 HELMET. AND WITH THE X-SIGHT NOT BELONGING TO A SPECIFIC AIRCRAFT, HE HOPES INCREASED PRODUCTION NUMBERS WILL MAKE IT AN EVEN MORE AFFORDABLE OPTION FOR OPERATORS.