Helmet Lets Pilots Shoot Targets With a Glance

Turns out looks can kill
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 3, 2011 11:36 AM CST
Helmet Lets Pilots Shoot Targets With a Glance
A Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet flies during a demonstration at the ILA Berlin Air Show in this file photo.   (Getty Images)

Equipped with new headgear, British fighter pilots can knock enemies from the sky with a mere gaze. The $390,000 Striker helmet shows pilots nearby radar-detected targets. The pilot merely looks at a target to choose it, then speaks to fire. It’s one of the biggest technological advances the military has ever seen, the Daily Mail gushes.

The Striker works through optical sensors in the helmet and the cockpit. It allows a missile to be fired in any direction, not merely straight ahead. “It means the end of the dogfight," says one pilot. "Traditionally you have to get behind an aircraft to lock on. With this, I steer the weapons with my head.” So far the system has been tested extensively on Eurofighter Typhoons, but its creator, BAE Systems, says it can "be applied to all platforms."
(More Royal Air Force stories.)

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