Lockheed Martin has delivered the first Sniper XR advanced targeting pod (ATP) to the US Air Force for testing, as the service takes delivery of Northrop Grumman Litening ER pods for immediate operational use on Boeing F-15E strike fighters. All 24 Litening interim pods on order will be delivered by April.
Lockheed Martin won the ATP competition in August last year, receiving a contract for up to 522 pods, but Sniper XR will not enter service until late this year, initially on USAF Lockheed Martin F-16CJ Block 50s and Air National Guard (ANG) F-16 Block 30s. F-15Es are not scheduled to receive Sniper XRs until later in the programme, so the USAF ordered 24 Litening ERs off the shelf for $32.6 million.
The Litenings will replace older Lockheed Martin Lantirn targeting pods on some F-15Es. "The warfighters have a need for enhanced capability over Lantirn, and Sniper will not be through operational test and evaluation in time," says Russell Bone, director of the US Air Force's precision attack system programme office. "Litening is a short-term solution. There is no plan for additional pods."
Qualification testing of the Sniper XR will begin in April and will take three months, followed by five to six months of operational testing. Fielding of pods is to begin in the fourth quarter, says Bone, with the first F-16CJ unit to be equipped "by Christmas". The ANG will begin to receive pods at the same time. So far 45 of the initial tranche of 168 pods have been ordered.
A loser in the ATP competition, Northrop Grumman has also received a $19.7 million contract to retrofit 45 Litening II and 19 Litening ER pods carried by ANG F-16s to the latest Litening AT configuration. The AT version provides enhanced image processing, multitarget cueing, precision target co-ordinate generation and improved air-to-air capability.
Source: Flight International
