France and Spain look set to significantly enhance the ability of some of their NH Industries NH90 battlefield helicopters to operate in low-visibility conditions following the award of key development contracts to equipment suppliers.

Thales on 14 January disclosed that it has been selected by the NATO Helicopter Management Agency (NAHEMA), acting on behalf of the French DGA and Spanish DGAM defence procurement agencies, to incorporate advanced functionality into its TopOwl Digital Display (DD) helmet.

Critically, that includes integration with data from the Safran Eurofl’Eye distributed aperture system (DAS) – an array of six infrared cameras designed to improve visibility in degraded visual environments like white- or brown-out conditions.

Safran was on 22 December awarded a contract by NAHEMA, again on behalf of the DGA and DGAM, to develop Eurofl’Eye for the NH90.

France had originally considered the DAS for the Standard 2 version of the NH90 troop transport helicopter (TTH) currently being developed for its special forces, although it was subsequently omitted from the initial procurement.

Paris will field 18 examples of the Standard 2 TTH. Deliveries are due to start this year, with Eurofl’Eye presumably to be added as a later step.

Spain’s interest in the system appears to be for the NH90s operated by its navy – what it calls the Maritime Spanish Transport (MSPT) helicopter – which are used for commando and special forces support missions.

Madrid already had seven MSPTs on order and in December committed to another six examples as part of a wider agreement that included 31 more NH90s.

Speaking to journalists in December, the commander of the Spanish navy’s 14 Squadron, which operates the MSPT fleet, indicated interest in a DAS-equipped version of the Standard 2 helicopters for the next six-unit buy.

Thales is already developing the TopOwl DD helmet for France, to be deployed on the forthcoming Airbus Helicopters Tiger MkIII and H160M Guepard rotorcraft.

Features include the ability of both pilots to see the same display simultaneously, or to have a ‘picture in picture’ within the overall display, alongside the use of high-definition and synthetic-vision imagery. Future enhancements are likely to include colour and augmented reality imagery.

However, the specific interface for the NH90 is the only one to feature feeds from both the Eurofl’Eye or the helicopter’s standard electro-optical/infrared camera.

“There is no point in having nice sensors if you cannot manage the data associated with them,” says Florent Chauvancy, vice-president flight avionics at Thales.

Fielding on the NH90 is likely to be towards the end of the decade, Thales says.

While France and Spain are the launch customers for the NH90 configuration, Chauvancy sees a larger market potential.

“It is not our intention to rely on initial orders – we will try to capture additional orders for upgrades of [in-service] platforms.”