Update: NAVAIR awards Gentex Corporation USD22.6 million contract for Next Generation Fixed Wing Helmet

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) selected Gentex Corporation to deliver 5,000 of its PURSUIT Next Generation Fixed Wing Helmet as part of a USD22.6 million contract. (Gentex Corporation)

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) selected Gentex Corporation to deliver its PURSUIT helmet to the Naval Aircrew Systems program office (PMA-202) for its Next Generation Fixed Wing Helmet (NGFWH).

NAVAIR awarded the USD22.6 million contract to Gentex to provide 5,000 systems and spares to replace the HGU-55/P and HGU-68/P legacy helmets, also produced by Gentex. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract is slated to last five years.

The NGFWH is to support aircrew on US Navy (USN) fixed-wing platforms, such as the E-2D aircraft, the T-6, the T-45, the F/A-18, and the EA-18G Growler.

Rob Stimis, director, fixed-wing segment at Gentex Corporation, told Janes on 12 February that legacy helmets introduced before the advent of helmet-mounted displays created a system that was “very front heavy, which then leads to an asymmetrical loading, particularly when you're pulling gs or in an ejection scenario where that weight is not optimally balanced on the aircrew's head and neck”.

Stimis said baking these considerations into the design process enabled Gentex to deliver a helmet that weighs less while capable of integrating modern technologies such as helmet-mounted displays as part of its modern open systems architecture (MOSA).

“The base helmet design stays standard, and then we can manipulate the module depending on the weight and the mass properties of the helmet-mounted display system, so that we have the best effective balance and we optimise that integration of those various systems,” Stimis said.

Captain Joseph Kamara, Aircrew Systems program manager, told Janes