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The head of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program touted a fix for the jet’s troubled, high-tech helmet, which officials hope will solve jitter picture and lag time issues.
A “micro-inertial measurement unit” is expected to fix the jitter, while “signal processing changes in the software and the architecture” could fix the lag, Vice Adm. David Venlet, the F-35 program manager said after testifying at a May 8 U.S. Senate hearing.
“What I am focused on is seeing he demonstration of those fixes working and being effective,” Venlet said. “That will be paced out through the remainder of this year and into 2013.”
Program officials also plan to improve a camera installed on the helmet which they believe will fix “the acuity and night vision,” he said.
The fixes will be eventually demonstrated through a flight test or in a laboratory environment, Venlet said. The program has funding to work on the fixes to the primary helmet, made by Vision Systems International, as well as a back-up helmet system.
In 2011, Lockheed Martin, the F-35 prime contractor, selected an alternated helmet made by BAE Systems.
“I’m not going to let go of that alternate until I’ve got demonstrated performance of the one I really want,” Venlet said.
