Navy taps Boeing to repair large-area and low-profile displays in combat jet cockpit avionics
Key Highlights
Questions and answers:
- What company received the Navy contract to repair F/A-18 and EA-18G cockpit displays? he Boeing Co., specifically its Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis, received the $104.4 million contract.
- What are the main types of displays being repaired in the Super Hornet and Growler? The contract covers repairs of the large-area touchscreen display and the low-profile head-up display.
- What key advantage does the large-area display provide to pilots? It consolidates flight, navigation, and targeting data into one reconfigurable panoramic screen to improve situational awareness and reduce pilot workload.
PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Navy avionics experts needed repair of cockpit displays for the carrier-based F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G aircraft. They found a solution from the Boeing Co., builder of the F/A-18.
Officials of the Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support activity in Philadelphia announced a $104.4 order last week to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis to repair the large-area display and low profile head-up display in F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler cockpits.
These displays form important elements of Super Hornet and Grower upgrades. The large-area display is a 1-by-19-inch touchscreen that consolidates several functions for situational awareness. The low-profile head-up display projects critical flight and targeting data onto the pilot's visor to minimize eye movement during maneuvers.
Liquid crystal displays
The Super Hornet and Growler cockpit integrates these displays with other LCD panels, such as multipurpose 5-inch screens and tactical moving maps, for electronic warfare (EW) and precision strike. This setup optimizes pilot workload in high-threat environments.
The large-area display was developed by Elbit Systems of America LLC in Fort Worth, Texas, for Boeing. It integrates tactical data, mission planning, and flight information into a reconfigurable panoramic screen, and replaces several smaller displays to reduce pilot workload and optimize space.
Pilots can resize and rearrange displays for radar, navigation, or engine data using 3D touchscreen controls with immediate visual feedback like brightened keys. The large display synchronizes with the JHMCS II helmet-mounted display and works with sensors like AESA radars to enhance situational awareness during missions.
Core of the cockpit
Introduced in the Block III Super Hornet upgrade around 2015, the large-area display forms the core of Boeing's cockpit for F/A-18E/F and F-15 combat jets.
This low profile head-up display features a streamlined size and shape that occupies less space than traditional HUD designs, and frees-up room for the larger display to enhance pilot interaction and support next-generation visual cueing for situational awareness.
On this order, Boeing will do the work in Fort Worth, Texas; Talladega, Ala.; and St. Louis, and should be finished by April 2028. For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/company/about-bds, Elbit Systems of America at www.elbitamerica.com, or the Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support activity-Philadelphia at www.navsup.navy.mil/NAVSUP-Enterprise/NAVSUP-Weapon-Systems-Support/Welcome-Philadelphia.