DID has covered the AN/AQ-228 ATFLIR pod’s success in theater over Iraq, and how it has changed the roles of the F/A-18 aircraft fitted with it. Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) combines three pods into one: a targeting FLIR, a laser spot tracker, and a navigation FLIR. It also sharply improves performance and reliability over existing pods.
Now Raytheon Co. in El Segundo, CA has received a $91.8 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-06-C-0310), exercising an option for 50 Full Rate Production Lot 4 AN/AQ-228 ATFLIR pods for the F/A-18 C/D Hornet aircraft. Work will be performed in McKinney, TX (76%) and El Segundo, CA (24%), and is expected to be complete in November 2008. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.