AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING Low Risk, Next Generation Targeting Pod
Northrop Grumman's LITENING Precision Targeting System Surpasses One Million Operational Hours Milestone
April 13, 2009 - Northrop Grumman Corporation today announced the achievement of over one million operational hours for the company's LITENING precision targeting and sensor system.
"LITENING continues to be the precision targeting system most called on, indicated by the one million operational hours milestone," said Mike Lennon, vice president of Targeting and Surveillance Programs at Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division. "LITENING has pioneered such advanced targeting technologies as precisely aligned and stable sensors, coordinated air-to-ground and air-to-air capabilities through laser spot search and track and laser markers, data links for coordinated air-ground attack and J-series weapons employment capabilities, and we continue to refine our system today as proven by the cutting-edge LITENING G4."
Northrop Grumman's widely fielded LITENING AT (advanced technology) system is a self-contained, multi-sensor weapon-aiming system that enables aircrews to detect, acquire, auto-track and identify targets for highly accurate delivery of both conventional and precision-guided weapons. LITENING AT features advanced image processing for target identification; coordinate generation for GPS weapons; a 1,024 x 1,024 pixel charge-coupled device television sensor; a laser spot tracker; and an infrared laser marker.
LITENING G4
LITENING G4, planned for delivery to U.S. forces this year, will add new sensors for improved target identification and other advanced target recognition and identification features. The LITENING G4 provides significant enhancements in terms of both recognition range and image quality, which allows operators more time to identify and track targets. Moreover, the targeting pod's enhanced color symbology, designed to support a new generation of aircraft color displays, provides a more viewer-friendly format that eases operator understanding of display information.
97% availability for over two consecutive years
Of the more than one million hours accumulated to date, just under half have been logged under deployed and combat conditions, with an operational availability of over 97 percent for over two consecutive years, performance unequaled in industry.
LITENING Advanced Targeting (AT) pods have proven their combat capabilities and inherent flexibility to adapt to changing operational requirements. Rapid integration on a wide variety of aircraft (AV-8B, A-10A/C, B-52H, EA-6Bs, F-15E, F-16 and F/A-18s), plus the wide fielding of internal data links are just two examples of the benefits realized by the warfighter. Customers for LITENING include all components of the U.S. Air Force (active duty, Air National Guard (ANG) and Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC)), the U.S. Marine Corps (active duty and reserves), the Italian and Spanish navies, the Israeli Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Netherlands Air Force, the Finnish Air Force and the Portuguese Air Force.
Moreover, LITENING is the pod of choice for the F-16 platform and has been integrated on F-16 Blocks 15, 25, 30/32, 40/42, and 50/52, amassing more than 420,000 cumulative flight hours.
Manufactured under license from RAFAEL.