RAFAEL, THE Israeli armament development authority, is developing a variant of its Litening airborne laser-designator and navigation pod enabling it to undertake long-range intelligence gathering.
Rafael is to equip the pod with a datalink capable of transmitting images to a ground station or control and command aircraft.
The Litening is offered in a Dutch air force competition and is being evaluated by the US National Guard and McDonnell Douglas for integration on its F-18s. The pod has already been purchased by the Israeli and German air forces.
The Rafael system enables aircraft to perform low-level night flights and to detect and identify ground targets.
Source: Flight International