BAE Systems has its helmet/headset mounted Q-Sight head-up display (HUD) in its booth here (No. 110) and will start making customer deliveries later this year. Initial deliveries will be made to military customers, who are expected to comprise the bulk of demand, but the company will be making the system available to civil operators as well. BAE sees a significant market for Q-Sight with HEMS operators and law enforcement agencies.

Q-Sight can be used in conjunction with images from forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems and night-vision goggles (NVGs) to create enhanced- and synthetic-vision solutions. The cost of the system will likely be slightly more than a set of NVGs, according to John Nix, BAE Systems vice president of business development.

The lightweight Q-Sight system uses a patented holographic waveguide system to project flight data and symbols onto an eyepiece, thereby reducing pilot workload by allowing him to fly “head up and eyes out.” It is a “plug-and-play” solution for almost any aircraft with a glass cockpit and an available power source tap; however, BAE also is developing a portable laptop-size symbol generator, for an additional still-undetermined cost, that will work in conjunction with Q-Sight for “steam gauge” aircraft. That should be ready within a year, according to BAE business development director George Lim.

BAE has test-flown the system on a Bell 407 and a Bell 212 and already has received large military orders, mostly for Black Hawks and Chinooks.