Australia Orders Over $100M in LITENING Targeting Pods
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The Northrop Grumman/ Rafael LITENING surveillance and targeting pod has been chosen as the preferred surveillance and weapons targeting system for Australia’s F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft, in a contract worth more than $100 million. While the make was not disclosed in releases, DID has been able to get confirmation that the order is for the advanced model LITENING AT pods, that the effort is part of the Defence Procurement Office, Tactical Fighter Systems Program Office’s Hornet Upgrade (HUG) program, and that the project value quoted is the unclassified value and extends beyond the acquisition of the pods. Our Australian source added that “Pod numbers and detailed cost breakdowns are sensitive and will not be disclosed.”
Australia’s has been running the Tactical Fighter Systems Program Office’s Hornet Upgrade project for its 71 RAAF F/A-18 A/B Hornets, and assessed three systems. DID has covered them all – and we also have some thoughts regarding those detailed cost and numbers breakdowns.
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Australia’s Defence Procurement Office, Tactical Fighter Systems Program Office has been running the Tactical Fighter Systems Program Office’s Hornet Upgrade project, and assessed three systems – including the Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infra-Red (ATFLIR) pod manufactured by Raytheon, and the Pantera pod manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The ATFLIR is currently in use on U.S. Navy F/A-18s (USMC F/A-18s use LITENING ATs), and DID has reported on ATFLIR’s use in Iraq and how it changed the F/A-18s’ role. Pantera, meanwhile, is the export version of the Sniper XR targeting pod, whose in-theater performance on F-15E Strike Eagles was covered in an earlier DID article.
As our earlier article on the LITENING noted, its impressive success in the global defense market stems from the fact that it combined multiple sensors for maximum flexibility in a single pod, at low cost. That still appears to be a valid positioning. Defence Minister Robert Hill said that the LITENING AT pods would significantly improve the Hornet’s precision targeting and surveillance capabilities, and added that Northrop Grumman’s bid was chosen because it provided the greatest number of pods, as well as the best value for money.
The LITENING AT system is a self-contained, multi-sensor and navigation system that enables fighter pilots to detect, acquire, track and identify ground targets for highly accurate delivery of both conventional and precision-guided weapons. It features advanced image processing for target identification and coordinate generation; a 640×512 pixel forward-looking infrared sensor; a new 1,004×1,004 pixel charge-coupled device television sensors; a laser spot tracker; an infrared laser marker; infrared laser designator/range finder; and air-to-ground data links.
While the pods’ cost breakdown was classed by our Ministry of Defence contact as “sensitive” and not to be disclosed, SPX reports that Northrop Grumman will deliver 37 targeting pods and spares beginning in 2006, and ending in 2007.
Past contracts for these pods may offer some perspective. Our earlier article covered the LITENING pod series’ origins, components, and deployment with various air forces before offering a partial round-up of past contracts. Cost per pod, even with some support thrown in, has varied between $1.67 million each at the upper limit (multinational July 2000 LITENING II order) to around $1.2 million at the lower level. The US Marines, who also fly F/A-18s, placed a 2004 order for the same LITENING AT version that worked out to $1.3 million per pod.
Even assuming a base cost of $1.5 million x 37 = $55.5 million, which would leave an approximately equal amount for integration, support, and spares given the amount of the contract award. That seems rather high.
Readers with additional information, insights, or parameter ranges to feed into these figures are invited to contact DID via tips@... here at defenseindustrydaily.com.
UPDATE: Looks like some secrecy wires got crossed here. Northrop Grumman’s own news release comfirms the figure of “37 targeting pods and spares beginning in 2006 and completing in 2007.”
