Mast Mounted Sight

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Mast Mounted Sight is a mast sight developed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop . It is mounted - as the word "mast" in the English name suggests, on the main rotor hub of a helicopter. Probably the most difficult problem for the design engineers was the vibration damping of the system, since optical target acquisition under vibrations is extremely imprecise.

Main ingredients

MMS on an IFOR OH-58 D Kiowa Warrior helicopter

• the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR): An infrared vision system (target acquisition at night)
• TV optics: (target acquisition during the day)
• a laser rangefinder: Determines the distance to the targeted target
• A laser designator (the target marker): Marks the target for the combat units equipped with laser-guided weapon systems and operating in the background (e.g. attack helicopters)

The whole thing is summarized in a spherical housing, which is made of carbon compounds and epoxy resin.

advantages

Since all the important systems for detecting enemy units are on the main rotor, the pilot can use the MMS system to scout out the area beyond his cover (forest, rows of houses, etc.) without exposing his helicopter.

The successor to the MMS is the IMMS ( Improved Mast Mounted Sight ).