Women are breaking more and more borders and the army is one of them: for example, the british air force, known as the Royal Air Force (RAF), has 30 women on its staff. However, there are still limitations for some of them, as neither can fly a fifth-generation F-35 jet.
Although it may seem like a matter of discrimination against women, the truth is that there are reasons that keep them away from the controls of these fighters. This is how the head of the Air Force explains it, Mike Wigstonwhich has revealed the real reason why female pilots cannot drive this vehicle.
The reason women don’t fly F-35s
According to Wigston, women cannot fly F-35 fighters for one simple reason: the helmet designed to be worn in front of this plane is overweight and there are a series of requirements to be able to use it. The RAF uses the Gen III helmet modelwhich weighs around 2.3 kilos, so not everyone can use it without putting their physical integrity at risk.
Thus, by British Air Force standards, and regardless of whether the pilot is a man or a woman, a person must weigh at least 68 kilos to take command of this fighter jet: “That’s the minimum weight limit for the F-35, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a man, a woman, or anyone, that’s what’s required.”
Female pilots could suffer neck injuries
Those pilots who do not meet this minimum weight could even suffer neck injuries if they were expelled from F-35 in case of emergency. But why are the helmets worn by F-35 fighter pilots so heavy?
The Gen III model is equipped with screens for the aviator to obtain basic information for the mission, including data on speed, course, altitude or objective. In this way, it will not be necessary for them to look at the display screen, since all the necessary data will be projected on the visor, reducing the workload and increasing responsiveness.
Although alternatives are still being sought to replace these helmets with others without the condition of weight, the truth is that for the moment its change seems unlikely. Wigston explained that there is a light version of this helmet, which weighs only 2.09 kilograms, but that it is much more expensive – it exceeds 300,000 – and does not offer greater guarantees regarding the safety of the pilot.
