Does F-35 have automated gun aiming assist system?

There was a system proposed for the F-15 in the early 80s, there is a topic on it in this forum. It was a computer assisted gun firing system that allowed the F-15 to shoot target ( even head on) and the computer fired short bursts. Supposedly the pilots did not want to give control to the computer. Seemed like a very useful and effective way to use the gun better in a high speed engagement.

My question is, as expensive as the F-35 is, does it have a computer aided system to help the pilot/autopilot shoot the gun in a dogfight?it seems that it would be very effective to help the pilot.

also, since the F-35 has no fixed HUD, how does the pilot aim the cannon at targets. The gun is fixed so how is a helmet sight going to aim a fixed gun?

Are any of the apertures below the cockpit for gun aiming?

As far as we publicly know it does not; the pilot can dial in a burst size (so that a trigger pull only fires something like 5 or 15 or 30 rounds), but the aiming is manual. The only real assistance would be the FBW's ability to hold the aircraft's attitude / stabilise the aircraft, meaning that recoil and turbulence is countered.

As for aiming, it's performed via the helmet; the magnetic field sensors on the pilot's helmet let it know which direction it's facing and where it is in the cockpit, from there it's just trigonometry and vector calculus to figure out where the gun crosshair should appear in the pilot's vision - it's no different in concept to the markers that a pilot would see highlighting friendly or enemy aircraft, etc.

The pilot would also be able to slew and lock the EOTS onto his intended target to get a magnified view (and it's also plausible that they have the ability to lock it directly forward), but I suspect that the gun reticle / bullet ballistics data would not be conveyed onto the footage (though who knows), so the pilot would likely only be able to use it for BDA and/or trial-and-error precision targeting.

IIRC on the MiG-29 the gun can be set to fire only when there's a target in the projected path of the bullets, so the pilot can keep the trigger squeezed and the system will only fire if it calculates the target will be hit, reducing ammo waste.
Seems silly not to use a system like that.

kcran567 said:

since the F-35 has no fixed HUD, how does the pilot aim the cannon at targets.

Click to expand...

The same way a pilot WITH a HUD aims the cannon - by using the symbology on his displays to maneuver the aircraft such that when fired the shells will hit the target. Did you think the pilot used the HUD like an iron sight or something?

Helmet system and how to employ weapons using the F-35 helmet display system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0btzIvlScI

Using the weapons systems shown on the F-35 sim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbnWg4v6iHk

sferrin said:

kcran567 said:

since the F-35 has no fixed HUD, how does the pilot aim the cannon at targets.

Click to expand...

The same way a pilot WITH a HUD aims the cannon - by using the symbology on his displays to maneuver the aircraft such that when fired the shells will hit the target. Did you think the pilot used the HUD like an iron sight or something?

Click to expand...

When the pilot uses the gun in a dogfight with another moving aircraft, was just asking how that would be different than using a fixed hud. The pilot moving his head would cause the display to move in relation to the target which is also moving. Would it appear as a regular hud display in gun "mode" when looking forward? Missiles are going to steer toward the target, I was asking about how the helmet would work when using the gun since it is a " moving" display.

Here's a video (albeit of limited quality) showing the HUD (keeping in mind that circle in the bottom right and the 360 degree video bar at the bottom are there just for the public demo):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oia98mYKstM

In any weapons mode, the virtual HUD essentially works in two ways:

Regardless of where you look, you will always see a helmet boresight for targeting missiles and directing sensors. You will also always see symbols highlighting aircraft, etc, as well as a line showing the horizon.

If you're looking forward +/- roughly 20 degrees of the aircraft boresight, you'll see a fairly conventional HUD, with your airspeed and altitude readouts on there.

If you look further away, some minimal critical data like your airspeed and altitude readouts will pop off the HUD and follow your vision. There will also be a bearing indicator that shows what direction you're looking.

Although that basic critical data follows you, the rest of the HUD, such as the aircraft / gun boresight, as well as the pitch ladder and aircraft bearing, will never move - if you keep looking further to the side they'll simply slip off the of the HMDS's 40x30 degree display.

Thank You. Still wondering how automated the gun is going to be (like the system tested on the F-15) or if like current systems.