"Scott Ferrin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 May 2004 19:29:56 -0400, "Paul F Austin"
wrote:


"Jeb Hoge" wrote in message
. com...
Scott Ferrin wrote in message
...
On Wed, 05 May 2004 08:36:25 -0600, Ed Rasimus
wrote:

For "other background", I spent several hours this last weekend in
one-on-one conversation with an old fighter pilot friend who is now
part of the Lockheed team. He's on F-35, but interfaces with the
Raptor side of the house.

His descriptions of the technology of the -22 was sufficient to
water
this old fighter driver's eyes. Totally transparent integration of
multi-source data; prioritization of threat and target info to
minimize pilot overload; and probably the most impressive thing I've
ever heard of (unclassified) a system of helmet mounted sight and
fuselage mounted optical sensors that offers the pilot an view of
the
space around him unobstructed by his own airframe! Seamless transfer
from sensor to sensor so that as you turn, the next available camera
offers the view. Look to your wing and see right through it at what
is
below. Cool stuff!

The optical thing is on the F35. (Kinda sounds like you were saying
it's on the F-22 too). I saw a news clip or Nova thing or something
where a Lockheed guy was showing that off. There's also some photos
floating around the net of an F-35 mockup at the Edwards airshow I
believe. It had half-dozen or so little windows for the system
scattered about the aircraft. It would be nice if the F-22 had that
system too but I've never noticed that it does.

Hmm...if I see my neighbor soon, I'll ask him about that. Sounds
neat. And it's nice to find a thread about the F-22 that hasn't
already been Tarvered.

What you are looking for (on the F-35) is the Distributed Aperature
System
(DAS) by Northrop Grumman. Indigo Systems makes the actual cameras.



How does ths compare to a conventional system (other than FOV)? Is
each camera the equivalent of a LANTIRN? How about the designation
system? Does it have one?

As I recollect from an article in AvWeek, the F-35 has a seperate
designator/FLIR that looks out through a sapphire window in the airframe.
The DAS cameras are IR and lack the resolution of e.g. LANTIRN but give a 4
pi steradian effective field of regard. If the pilot can crane his neck far
enough, he can look in any direction, regardless of what piece of airframe
is in the way. I have a recollection but no more than that which says that
the DAS cameras are there primarily as part of the missile alarm and warning
system.