ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. – U.S. Air Force command-and-control experts needed electro-optical airborne targeting pods to detect, identify, and track targets at extended ranges. They found a solution from Northrop Grumman Corp. Mission Systems sector in Rolling Meadows, Ill.
Officials of Robins Air Force Base, Ga., announced a $50 million order to Northrop Grumman in December for the LITENING Comprehensive Advanced Targeting Pod (CATP) program.
LITENING CATP is an advanced infrared and visible-light sensor pod for several kinds of U.S. combat aircraft for detecting, identifying, and tracking targets at extended ranges during the day, at night, or in bad weather.
LITENING CATP pods integrate high-resolution forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors, CCD-TV cameras, laser designators, and laser range-finders for precision strikes with guided munitions. It offers spectral imaging, and helps reduce pilot workload, and are for close-air support and airborne surveillance.
Precision targeting
The system is a specialized configuration of the Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-28 LITENING advanced targeting pod for precision targeting, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
The primary electro-optical components of the LITENING CATP include a high-resolution color charged coupled device (CCD) TV camera for visible spectrum imaging. It also has a infrared sensor for thermal imaging across shortwave, medium-wave, and longwave infrared bands.
Its lasers use a dual-mode Nd:YAG laser designator and rangefinder with eye-safe training mode, laser spot tracker and marker, and imaging sensors for precise ranging, designation, and identification.
Image processing
The pod offers advanced image processing with graphics processing for video enhancement, picture-in-picture multi-view displays, and automatic target tracking. On-gimbal inertial navigation and stabilization systems ensure line-of-sight stability and boresighting.
Data links enable two-way digital communications, video downlink, and recording of sensor feeds for post-mission analysis. LITENING CATP modular line-replaceable units support upgrades, diagnostics, and two-level maintenance. The pod fuses electro-optical sensor data with air-to-air cueing from radar.
Aircraft that host LITENING CATP include the A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jet; the F-15E Strike Eagle jet fighter-bomber; the F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighter; the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet fighter-bomber; and B-52H Stratofortress strategic jet bomber.
On this order Northrop Grumman will do the work in Rolling Meadows, Ill. for more information contact Northrop Grumman Mission Systems online at www.northropgrumman.com/who-we-are/business-sectors/mission-systems, or Robins Air Force Base, Ga., at www.robins.af.mil/Units/WR-Air-Logistics-Complex.
