Today I learned that F-35 pilots get $400,000 helmets with 'X-ray vision' - but the Pentagon almost ditched them

Every F-35 pilot in the US Air Force gets their own custom-fitted $400,000 helmet, which lets them peer through the cockpit mid-flight to see what's going on in the surrounding airspace and the ground below.

This is possible through six infrared cameras embedded on to the flight's exterior, broadcasting a 360-degree video stream straight into the pilot's visor.

Pilots say it's like being able to see through the hull of the aircraft, as if it were made of glass.

No expense spared Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II is one of the world's most expensive fighter jets, priced anywhere between $80-110 million USD.

These are single-seat, supersonic, stealth fighter jets designed for air strikes and electronic warfare.

Each fighter jet also comes equipped with a Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS).

A single F-35 Gen III helmet costs four times more than what the older F-16 jets came equipped with.

To be more specific, an investigation by Air Force Times in 2015 put their per-unit pricing at roughly $400,000.

Given that the United States Air Force has a contract with the helmet manufacturer, Collins Elbit Vision Systems, to build thousands of these helmets — that makes the combined project cost for the headgear alone in the billions of dollars.

What do Air Force pilots get for the exorbitant price tag? When looking down through the visor, they get a real-time view of the airspace and ground below, the closest that the US military has come to X-ray vision.

Mark Welsh III, a retired four-star general who served as the Air Force's 25th Chief of Staff, remarked that "the helmet is a workspace," adding "It's an interpretation of the battle space.

It's situational awareness.

Calling this thing a helmet ... we've got to come up with a new word." (Image credit: United States Air Force) What makes the helmet special The new F-35 Gen III helmets were designed by Collins Elbit Vision Systems, a joint venture between Collins Aerospace and Elbit Systems of America.

Through their contract with the F-35 Joint Program, Collins Elbit has so far shipped more than 3,000 units of these helmets to the United States Air Force.