The helmet of the Future by Thales

Thales Group has sold more than 3,500 helmet sights for pilots around the world.

Thales’ Scorpion® helmet equips all of the Rafale produced by Dassault Aviation and used by the French Air Force and Navy, as well as F-16s, F-18s and F-22s, among others.

The Helmet Viewfinder  - TopOwl Digital Display - is recognized by pilots as a piece of equipment that helps make flying safer and mission more efficient. Commonly referred to as TopOwl, this Thales Helmet for Helicopters has an integrated vision system that enables day and night missions in all weather conditions and with the same level of performance as night vision binoculars. It is equipped with NH90 and Tiger pilots, and has been sold in very many examples.

We met, on the Thales stand at Paris Air Show 2025, Renaud Charlet “Thales Avionics Combat Aircraft Strategy” who presented us the helmet of the Future seen by Thales...

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Renaud Charlet: The helmet visor is a transparent screen, in front of the pilot's eye, which has three functions illustrated in this demonstration: https://youtu.be/LikqVnATL5Y

topowl on tiger pilot

The first function is to continuously present the pilot with information in front of his eyes, regardless of the direction in which he is looking. In particular, when he looks out, he still has critical piloting information that is provided him in front of his eyes. An example I often give is when a fighter pilot is in air combat and looks almost behind him, being able to read his speed, altitude and his essential flying information will be a key advantage for him.

In this context, having the lightest helmet on the market is really something very useful.

The second function is designation to the weapon system, through the line of sight of the helmet.

The third function is providing the tactical layer through augmented reality. The helmet is transparent: you see through it and embed the images you want to show the pilot.

SDBR News: Is the helmet, which is on display at the Thales stand at Paris Air Show, the result of work done on the Scorpion and the TopOwl, or is it a technological breakthrough?

Renaud Charlet: The helmet presented at the Paris Air Show is a technological breakthrough: it is the vision of the helmet that we will be able to provide to users in 5 to 10 years. But it is also a demonstrator of concepts that will allow us to work with users to define the future helmet as best we can.

SDBR News: In an aeronautical-only application, or will there be variations?

Renaud Charlet: Our goal is above all an aeronautical variant, but Thales group also works for the infantryman of the Future, with similar technologies. So I would say that we have aeronautical specificities, but that basic technology can be used on other applications. I remind you that the Scorpion helmet weighs only 1.5 kg, it is the lightest helmet on the market and it is popular with its users.

On a combat aircraft, we often talk about the risks associated with ejection: in air combat or for long-term missions, having a helmet that is too heavy would be very penalizing, even dangerous for the pilot's cervical muscles.

SDBR News: What will characterize the technological disruption you're talking about?

Renaud Charlet: The demonstration, presented on the exhibition's Thales stand, illustrates the evolution we are making on the technical capabilities of the helmet: notably an increase in the field of view. The demonstration shows that it will be able to go up to a field of view of 70 degrees by 30 degrees. One of the key points, not illustrated in the demo but which I'm delivering to you, is that we have the technologies to do this. We already have the digital models that show how to offer this performance from an optical perspective and how to make demonstrators and then a product. We have an ongoing roadmap on these technologies.

SDBR News: What are the key points of the demo?

Renaud Charlet: The first part of the demonstration shows the increase in the field of vision, what it allows to add in the image, the inlays, etc. Today, in Thales helmets, we already have a piloting symbology and the Air/Air and Air/Sol tracks that are presented. Tomorrow, we will add video, a mini Sitac (Tactical Information Situation) and the SVS (Synthetic Vision System) to immerse the pilot in the operational context.

talios by thales

SDBR News: Is there AI in this demonstrator?

Renaud Charlet: Well, not really... In fact, the AI will come from the mission calculator of the aircraft which, for example, will develop a strategy and the most intelligent trajectory possible to reach the target. It is this trajectory, the smartest possible, that we will present to the pilot in the sight of his helmet.

Similarly, the Talios Pod mounted on the Rafale makes automatic ground target recognition by artificial intelligence. These targets on the ground will be transmitted to the weapons system and will be displayed in the helmet. The helmet itself is a screen. AI is upstream.

SDBR News: Will the mission preparation be injected into the pilot's helmet?

Renaud Charlet: When we prepare a mission, we do it on maps, we trace areas and we create references common to all the participants of the mission, with a grid B4, C7, etc. Tomorrow, we will carry them back in the helmet: the pilot will look outside and see as if he had the map in front of his eyes; what he marked on his map, the areas in which you should not enter and the ground with the enemy surface-to-air defense bubbles that you cannot penetrate. Everything will be presented naturally to the crew.

We'll be able to show where our sensor looks, our laser designation pod, present the image from the sensor, and associate where it looks with what's called a 9-line brief.

SDBR News: That is?

Renaud Charlet: This is a message that comes to the pilot of a ground tactical controller. What would require us, on a conventional airplane, to look at four different locations in the close air support passage, is there presented in the same place in the helmet.

Of course, this will be a huge efficiency gain and a huge reduction in the risk of collateral damage.

Thanks to a helmet visor, the pilot is ten times faster to acquire the visual of a target. The system tells us where to look: we look and we see the target with our eyes, which allows us to do all the actions that a fighter pilot must do.

Acceleration of the decision is the key to victory in the air combat.

SDBR News: Is this also valid on night flights?

Renaud Charlet: With the “Synthetic Vision System”, you will fly at night as if it were daytime since you will see the terrain. Tactical information remains the same.

Finally, the last evolution is the presentation of images in accordance with the deck-landing maneuver.

Today, pilots are not allowed to land on an aircraft carrier with night-vision binoculars, because one cannot eject with them; and landing is a very dangerous phase, with a high risk of ejection. With the Pod, you can see in front as if it were daylight, without having to wear night vision binoculars. And with all the quality of Thales’ FLIR.

So this Thales helmet will be more than just a helmet, with all the features we just talked about that will be built into…

*https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/markets/aerospace/flight-deck-avionics-equipment-functions

Copyright: Thales