 Litening Pod Mounted Underneath a USMC F/A-18I Hornet Source: Sgt. Joel Chaverri, USMC |
 Installing ATFLIR on a USN F/A-18 Super Hornet Source: U.S. Navy |
NEWTOWN, Conn. - Northrop Grumman has successfully demonstrated its Litening advanced targeting capabilities on the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The 1.5-hour flight was conducted at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif.
Northrop Grumman said that as a result of this successful integration of Litening on the F/A-18E/F aircraft, potential international Super Hornet customers now have another choice to maximize their targeting and surveillance capabilities.
Until this flight, the choice for Super Hornet customers was the Raytheon Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) system. Raytheon and Northrop Grumman had split the targeting pod market for Hornets. Raytheon had the U.S. Navy's Hornet targeting pod business, while the U.S. Marine Corps picked Litening for its Hornets. Australia selected Litening for its Hornets but later chose ATFLIR for its Super Hornets. Other nations are looking to purchase new Super Hornets to replace their F/A-18 Hornet fleets. Some of these countries will also buy new targeting pods, and Northrop Grumman wants to make sure it gets a piece of the market.
Both pods have very similar characteristics. According to Northrop Grumman, the Litening pod is a self-contained, multi-sensor system that detects, acquires, identifies, and auto-tracks targets for highly accurate delivery of both conventional and precision-guided weapons. Fully integrated to support both air-to-air and air-to-ground engagements, Litening features advanced image processing for target identification; coordinate generation for GPS weapons; a 640 x 512 or 1,024 x 1,024 pixel forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor for effective day and night operations; a 1,024 x 1,024 pixel charge-coupled device television sensor; a dual-waveband IR laser designator and eye-safe laser rangefinder; a laser spot tracker; an IR laser marker; and an optional air-to-ground video datalink and digital video recorder.
Raytheon states that ATFLIR combines mid-wave infrared targeting and navigation FLIR systems, an electro-optical (EO) sensor, a laser rangefinder and a target designator, and a laser spot tracker into a single pod to locate, identify and designate targets.
Forecast International prepares market intelligence reports on several targeting pods, including Northrop Grumman's Litening, Raytheon's ATFLIR, Lockheed Martin's Sniper, and Thales' Damocles. These reports are included as a part of the Electronics Systems service. Forecast International's Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet report is included as a part of the Military Aircraft Forecast.
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