Aselsan selects Thales for Turkey's ATAK T129 helicopter programme

Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) selected Aselsan to develop and produce the Helmet Integrated Cueing System (HICS) for the Turkish T129 tactical reconnaissance and attack helicopter. Used for situational awareness and weapon cueing, the HICS system will incorporate latestgeneration image intensifier tubes for tactical night flight. The wide-field (40o) binocular cueing system will display flight and targeting data, as well as symbology, on the pilot's visor, and will project images from other sensors, such as high-resolution FLIRs.

Thales is very proud to have been selected as Aselsan's main partner.

Metin Sancar, Aselsan Director Airborne and Naval Programmes said: "After a competitive process with the major suppliers of helmet mounted sights for helicopters, Aselsan was selected in partnership with Thales, which has extensive experience in the field with its TopOwl(r) system. The TopOwl helmet mounted sight display is already in service. It has been chosen by 15 armed forces and more than 700 units have been delivered to date. Turkish pilots who evaluated the system in flight were impressed by the comfort of the helmet system and fully appreciated the benefits of visor projection technology, and this played a role in the procurement decision."

Aselsan will have overall responsibility for the HICS and will develop the associated Electronic Unit and Software that integrates the head tracking and symbol generation systems. The HICS system could be proposed for Turkish armed forces transport and combat helicopters, as well as for other nations seeking to acquire the T129, in addition to future platforms.

Yves Joannic, Thales Vice President, in charge of helicopter avionics, said: "Thales is very proud that its experience in helmet mounted sight and display systems for helicopters will contribute to the success of the T129 programme. Thales's helmet mounted sight display system expertise is now a well-known market reference."