SEOUL—Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has awarded Thales a contract to supply the Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) for Poland’s FA-50 Fighting Eagle light fighters.
Thales will be responsible for "adapting, integrating and qualifying" the Scorpion HMD onto the Polish FA-50s.
Poland has ordered 48 of the light combat aircraft from the South Korean aerospace and defense company. The first two of the fighters were airlifted into the Eastern European country in July 2023.
The Belgian Air Component already has selected the Scorpion to replace the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) on its F-16s, as has the U.S. Air National Guard.
Within South Korea, the helicopter variant of the Scorpion is used on the KAI Light Armed Helicopter program. Poland’s F-16 fleet currently uses the JHMCS.
Aerospace DAILY understands that KAI initially offered Poland the option of integrating the FA-50 and HMD with IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missiles, but Warsaw has a requirement for U.S.-supplied missiles—in this case, the Raytheon AIM-9X.
