WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Italian company Selex Galileo recently completed the first series of U.S. flight trials of its VigilX Airborne Enhanced Situational Awareness System.
The system, which enables pilots to see in zero light conditions, was flown in a series of sorties on a U.S. Department of Defense trials helicopter and demonstrated its potential to provide an innovative capability to aid the operation of battlefield helicopters at night and in degraded visual environments.
"Achieving this milestone allows us to position VigilX in the U.S. marketplace, confirming the airborne performance of the system in battlefield helicopters and its potential value to the U.S. warfighter, which is always our goal," said William "Mac" Wilkinson, Selex Galileo's director, Special Operations Business Development.
VigilX is a distributed aperture sensor system which processes inputs from a series of sensors distributed around an airborne platform to generate one integrated panoramic image, which allows the crew to "see through the hull" of the aircraft. It does so using a combination of infrared, low-light and visible-band cameras.
The system supports simultaneous and independent interrogation of the outside environment by multiple crew members. The ultra-low latency of VigilX allows it to operate with modern helmet-mounted display systems, in addition to head-up displays and cockpit multifunctional displays.
