Dominique Stump
Thales has been awarded a contract from Spain’s defense ministry to supply and install 80 of the company’s Scorpion Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems on that country’s fleet of EF-18 Hornet aircraft flown.
The company said Thursday it will develop and produce the helmet cueing systems plus conduct a viability study, tests, integration with test aircraft, qualification support and fleet integration for Spain’s air force.
Gil Michielin, an executive vice president with Thales’s avionics business, said the company designed the helmets as adaptable to a number of different platforms and simplify missions for pilots.
Scorpion works to provide full-color symbology for navigation, combat and intelligence functions for day and night missions, allocate points of interest, and cue and designate targets.
The U.S. has installed Scorpion on two blocks of its F-16 fleet, the A-1o and tested the system on its F-22 and NH-90 platforms.
