Hunter Raster HUD Pilot's Display Unit

Project 840
Suppliers Part No 016144
Buyers Part No 229-00938-01
Serial No 0002

In 1976 the flight trials of a GMAv raster HUD in a Hunter with the then RAE took place. The objectives were to explore the potential of low level flying at night using the video from a FLIR sensor and to discover the minimum acceptable instantaneous field of view for low level flying.
This flight trial was significant in establishing a basis for low level attack by night and was combined with the application of Night Vision Goggles. A typical HUD of this era had a field of view of 13° in elevation and 9° in azimuth which was determined to be quite insufficient and a minimum of about 15° elevation by 20° azimuth was determined to be acceptable for the prosecution of low level flying at night. It was found to be essential that the FLIR or LLTV picture was scaled on the HUD 1:1 with the real world as this allowed the pilot to have his normal daylight freedom to ‘see to fly’. In addition there was still the need to provide all the information that a HUD normally provides (height, speed, altitude, attitude) superimposed on the raster picture in a high quality presentation. The pilots had become used to the crisp clean symbology presented on the A-7 and F-16A/B HUDs and providing that symbology as part of the raster would not give that.
Designing a Sensor that could provide a large enough segment of the outside world to make night flying safe was one problem. The other was how to achieve even the modest field of view found to be desired by the RAE trials. There was pressure to design a HUD with a larger field of view.
This is a complete ‘RAE Raster HUD’.