Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has awarded Thales a contract to provide pilot helmets for the Polish military’s future FA-50 Fighting Eagle combat jets.
The agreement supports an ongoing program seeking more than 40 light fighter planes to replace Poland’s Soviet-era MiG-29 fleet.
South Korea and the Polish government signed the foreign military sale in September 2022, valued at $13.7 billion.
Scorpion Helmets
For the KAI contract, Thales will supply its proprietary Scorpion Helmet Mounted Displays, which offer easy access to the aircraft’s mission systems, navigation, and sensors.
The technology is a digital platform with zero-perceived latency, full-color symbology, and a single display module.
It uses a hybrid, optically-based inertial technology to augment the pilot’s vision with the aircraft’s tracking capabilities, providing situational awareness on day and night deployments.
Thales stated that the Scorpion helmets can also be employed with T-50 Golden Eagle Advanced Jet Trainers and its TA-50 Lead-in Fighter Trainer variant.
“We are excited to add the FA-50 to the long list of highly capable combat aircraft embracing our Scorpion HMD. For KAI we also supply rotary wing versions for their Light Armed and Marine Attack helicopters,” Thales Defense & Security’s Jim Geraghty stated.
“Scorpion’s simplified approach to platform integration, superior situational awareness, high reliability, and enhanced pilot comfort makes this system unmatched in the HMD marketspace.”
Future FA-50 Fleet Developments
South Korea plans to deliver the first 12 FA-50s to the Polish armed forces this year.
In August, Poland signed a $105-million contract with the US to procure Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods for the upcoming combat jets.
These “battle-proven” systems have an electro-optical targeting system and laser trackers to dominate moving aerial threats at a stand-off range.
In June, KAI rolled out the FA-50s eight months after the order. The aircraft were sent for flight tests the following month.