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Modern crew stations pour every warning into two senses — sight and hearing — until both saturate and alerts stop landing. This piece makes the case for the pilot's silent half: the body. It maps which cockpit cues belong on the skin, and why tactile communication is the multimodal cockpit's missing third channel.

Every drone detection sensor has a blind spot — and so does every operator. A guide to RF, radar, acoustic and EO/IR detection, their limits, and closing the final gap.

Touchwaves joins a Provincie Noord-Brabant MedTech initiative with Bilihome and 2M Engineering to bring dual-use haptic wearables from defence to healthcare.

Touchwaves, a Dutch deep-tech company and TNO spin-off, has been selected by General Atomics (GA-ASI) through its Blue Magic Netherlands programme to bring wearable haptic technology to UAS operators. Announced 19 June 2026, it makes Touchwaves one of six companies chosen from 350+ entrants. Its textile-integrated systems deliver critical data as tactile cues on the skin — a third channel that stays open when sight and sound saturate. GA-ASI will evaluate the technology in MQ

New research maps the seven attributes behind pilot success, sorts the innate from the trainable, and shows why the highest-leverage performance gain isn't selection or training — it's reducing the operator's cognitive load.

Fog and friction are the two forces that decide every air defence engagement: uncertainty over what's in the sky, and the delay in acting on it. As sensors multiply, the real limit isn't the technology but the operator's capacity to absorb it all.

"Human in the loop" describes a position, not a capability. As unmanned systems absorb the kill chain, meaningful human control becomes a question of perception — and the tactile channel is how it is protected.

For decades, military aviation has tried to solve pilot overload by adding more visual and auditory information. But research increasingly points to a different answer: touch. This article explores how haptic systems can reduce cognitive workload, improve situational awareness and strengthen decision-making across all six stages of the kill chain, from target detection to engagement under extreme conditions.

The F-35, Apache, and F-16 each push pilots toward cognitive overload through different mechanisms. This analysis shows how a single sensory channel — the tactile one — addresses each one on its own terms.

Three military aircrafts. Three fundamentally different cockpit environments. And yet: the same point of cognitive failure. Here's how each platform pushes its pilot to the breaking point by a different route. Understanding the mechanisms is the first step toward solving the problem.

The 21st-century pilots are not limited by technology. They are limited by attention. Despite the sophistication of 21st-century flight decks, pilots are losing the battle against cognitive overload. As modern flight systems demand increasing visual and auditory focus, the brain’s ability to process simultaneous alerts begins to fracture.

Today, we are announcing our selection for Cohort 2 of the EUDIS Business Accelerator, the European Defence Innovation Scheme’s primary vehicle for integrating disruptive dual-use technologies into the EU’s defense ecosystem.

While stealth, countermeasures, and manoeuvrability often dominate strategic discussions, one of the most enduring and most insidious threats to fighter jet pilots often receives less attention: hypoxia. Hypoxia, a condition caused by insufficient oxygen reaching the brain and body, is not merely a medical concern, it is a mission-critical risk.

In high-stakes modern defence aviation, reaction times decide outcomes. As cockpit technology evolves, we have optimized engines, airframes, and radar to the edge of physics. Yet one critical constraint remains unchanged: human biology. To move beyond this limit, engineers are turning to the fastest communication channel in the human body: the sense of touch.

Touchwaves, a deep-tech startup and spin-off from TNO, has raised €1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round

A New Paradigm We're entering a new age where the interface is the body. Where technology quietly supports your awareness without demanding attention. Where you simply feel when you need to adjust, without needing to check your devic

The Future of Fighter Jets: Networked, Immersive, & Human-Centric, FCAS, GCAP

EDIF: European Defence Innovation Forum 2025, main insights.

Touchwaves: Embodied Haptics for Human Performance