Dutch RNAF Selects LITENING AT Targeting-Surveillance Pods

LITENING AT on US F-16C(click to view full) The Royal Netherlands Air Force, which has already selected RAFAEL’s REECELITE pod for aerial reconaissance, recently selected [release in Dutch] Northrop Grumman & RAFAEL’s 3rd-generation LITENING Advanced Targeting (AT) pods for their F/A-16 Advanced Targeting program to replace their existing LANTIRN twin-pod sets. Under the terms of the contract, which Northrop Grumman described to DID as “over $40 million,” they will deliver 20 targeting pods and spares to the Royal Netherlands Air Force beginning in 2007. Final deliveries will take place in 2008. LITENING AT was selected following a full competitive analysis that included Lockheed’s Sniper XR and RAFAEL’s LITENING III as alternative finalists. So, what exactly does LITENING AT offer, and how come Northrop Grumman ended up competing against partner RAFAEL? LITENING AT(click to view full) The AAQ-28 (V) LITENING AT pod is a self-contained, multi-sensor system that lets fighter pilots detect, watch, acquire, auto-track and target things viewed with highly accurate delivery of laser-guided or GPS-guided weapons. LITENING AT features advanced image processing for target identification; coordinate generation for GPS weapons; a 640 x 512 pixel forward-looking infrared sensor for effective day and night operations; a new 1,024 x 1,024 […]