Steve Nichols
"He never knew what hit him" is a well-worn phrase, but an apt one if you are a Eurofighter ES2000 pilot.
A combination of systems means the pilot has only to look at an enemy plane and it is probably downed.
First, the enemy is detected with the aircraft's Infra-Red Search and Track system (IRST), then a helmet aiming system lets the pilot acquire the target, before an Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM ) finishes it off.
The pilot's helmet mounted display (HMD) offers binocular vision of important data wherever he looks in the cockpit, while the forward looking infra-red (FLIR) detectors can also supply an enhanced picture of the world in the HMD, even at night.
The passive nature of its infra-red detectors, meaning they only receive and do not transmit, means there is no tell-tale heat signature for the enemy to lock onto.
EMISSIONS
But the aircraft's stealthiness does not stop there. Its small airframe and low engine emissions means Eurofighter is difficult to see visually and encrypted voice and data radio links means the enemy cannot hear it coming either. This, coupled with its range of passive radar and radio detectors, means the aircraft is all ears, but very quietly spoken.
When radar acquisition is required, the ES2000's ECR90 system is one of the most technically advanced in the world. Combat air targets have been detected at ranges well over 150km in tests and larger aircraft have been seen and tracked out to 300km.
British Aerospace uses what it calls "sensor fusion" to describe how the ES2000's systems amass incoming information before presenting it in an easy-to-understand way. This leaves the pilot to concentrate on flying the plane and reduces information overload.
The plane also uses direct voice input to let the pilot communicate with the aircraft vocally.
Source: Flight Daily News