24 Jun 11. Thales presented for the first time at the Paris Air Show its high-performance TopOwl Helmet Mounted Sight Display (HMSD) featuring augmented reality, a new capability further enhancing helicopter pilots situational awareness in difficult visibility conditions. Representing an industry-first, TopOwl is now able to provide helicopter crews with augmented reality information, projected right in front of the pilot’s eyes, such as synthetic views of the environment, made possible through the use of TopOwl’s unique fully overlapped 40-degree field of view. This synthetic view is generated in real time and superimposed on the actual terrain vision, drawing on information from integrated databases, GPS data (for helicopter position and heading) and TopOwl’s accurate Pilot’s Line of Sight (LoS) measurement. (Source: ASD Network)
28 Jun 11. The Indian Army has short listed MBDA’s PARS 3 LR multitarget, long-range guided missile system for its future helicopter air-to-ground missile requirement. Hindustan Aeronautical (HAL) has already received a proposal from MBDA for its weapon systems for HAL’s advanced light helicopter (ALH DHRUV) and two attack helicopters, the KAMOV KA-52 and the MIL MI-28. MBDA has recently carried out three PARS 3 LR firings from a German Tiger helicopter at the Vidsel test range in Sweden as part of its export campaign in India. Each of the three missiles was equipped with live warheads, which struck the intended targets at optimal hit points. The successful industrial trials confirmed enhanced level of reliability of the guided missile system. (Source: armytechnology.com)
23 Jun 11. Raytheon Company completed the first major delivery of materials under the UAE Patriot contract. Three test missile assets were delivered to the U.S. Government to conduct United Nations testing that supports the final hazard classification for the new production run of GEM-T missiles.
“This is a significant milestone for the UAE Patriot program,” said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president for Patriot Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). “Our focus on new-build systems and technology refreshes has led to the modernization of Patriot and reinforced its standing as the premier air and missile defense system of choice.”
Raytheon IDS is the prime contractor for both domestic and international Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems and system integrator for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles.
07 Jun 11. LEMT displays new weapon sights at Minsk defence show. During the recent MILEX-2011 exhibition in Minsk, Belarussian company LEMT showed a new thermal imaging night sight for the Kornet (AT-14 ‘Spriggan’) anti-tank missile system. Designated TV-M, it is designed for installation on the 9P163 family of firing posts, replacing the original 1PN79M-1 night sight. (Source: Jane’s, JMR)
24 Jun 11. The US Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) has officially completed evaluation trials of Israel’s Iron Fist, an active protection system (APS) for armoured vehicles. The Iron Fist APS, developed by Israel Military Industries (IMI), uses passive and active sensors for accurate threat detection, situational awareness and fire control. The system can also deploy electro-optical ‘soft kill’ countermeasure and ‘hard kill’ interceptors to effectively protect against RPGs and guided missiles as well as tank rounds. The testing split into two phases was conducted as part of a congressionally mandated evaluation of domestic and foreign APSs. In the first phase, Iron Fist was tested against rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) while the second phase tested the system in electro-optic directional jamming and against anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). The APS is currently in the final stages of its full-scale development (FSD). (Source: armytechnology.com)
24 Jun 11. Experts design bomb-proof bag for luggage compartment in planes. A bag, which can protect planes from bombs in passenger luggage, has been developed by an i