Air Force to Select Advanced Targeting Pod.

Third generation forward-looking infrared needed for high-altitude strikes

The U.S. Air Force plans to upgrade its F-16 and F-15 fighters with new instrumentation and sensor pods that would bolster their ability to strike moving targets with laser-guided bombs from high altitudes.

The goal is to replace the 30-year-old technology currently in use--the low-altitude navigation targeting infrared night pods, known as Lantirn. Systems such as Lanrirn use forward-looking infrared (FLIR) imagers and lasers to help aircrews accurately deliver precision-guided bombs.

"When the Lantirn pod was conceived, it was a low-level attack capability We flew it at 200 or 300 feet. That is what was required under the doctrine of the Cold War," said Retired Air Force Gen. Lawrence F. Skantze. Today, the Air Force wants to be able to hit targets from 30,000 feet. That is not possible with Lantirn, which has a first-generation FUR, he said.

Satellite-guided bombs increasingly have become the weapon of choice for precision strike, but the Air Force still plans to continue using laser-guided weapons, because they are more effective against moving targets, for which precise satellite coordinates are difficult to obtain.

Skantze recently participated in a Defense Science Board panel that concluded that the Air Force and the Navy should pursue separate programs for an advanced targeting pod.

The Defense Department originally considered combining both programs. The Navy had begun, in 1997, the development of its advanced targeting FLIR (AT-FLIR) for the F/A-18. The service awarded a contract to the Raytheon Co. for the development of AT-FLIR, and the system now is beginning low-rate production. The Air Force, meanwhile, launched a separate program, called Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP). It plans to award a contract this month.

There were several downsides to combining the two programs, said Skantze. The most significant one was that if the Navy had to terminate its contract with Raytheon, protests would result, and the Navy would be financially liable, he explained.

The Navy will spend about $1.8 billion for 574 AT-FLIR systems. This month, the Air Force plans to award a seven-year $260 million contract for 168 ATP units. Any system proposed for the ATP program must be already fully developed, the Air Force said. The plan is to buy 505 pods, each estimated to cost about $1.5 million.

Three companies are vying for the ATP award: Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control, the Raytheon Co. and a ream of Northrop Grumman and Israel's Rafael.

To be able to recognize targets at longer range and fly at higher altitudes, the fundamental technology in ATP is the 3rd generation FLIR, explained Dan Fischoff, program director for Sniper XR, the system being proposed by Lockheed Martin.

The technology in Sniper XR has much in common with the Hawkeye target sight system that Lockheed Martin developed for the Marine Corps Cobra gunships. (related story page 24). "The FLIR, the laser spot tracker, the target tracker are all common, said Fischoff.

The company developed the original Lantirn, but Fischoff stressed that there is not much in common between Lantirn and Sniper. Lockheed, nevertheless, has proposed to the Air Force a plan to upgrade the Lantirn pods using Sniper technology.

The Northrop Grumman/Rafael team is proposing the Litening II+ targeting and navigation pod. The company already has sold these systems to the Air National Guard.

Rafael originally developed Litening for the Israeli Air Force. The Marines use Litening in the Harrier jump-jet. The Spanish and Italian air forces employ the pods as well. Norway tested it on the F-16 Block 40.

"It's a modular, simple architecture, easy to maintain," said Michael W Lennon, Northrop Grumman's vice president for targeting programs.

"We can operate at 40,000 feet. Other systems are limited to 25,000 feet." The 3rd Gen FLIR used in the company's ATP proposal is more advanced than other versions of Litening, said Lennon. This technology, he said, would make it possible to determine whether a potential target is a military or civilian vehicle.

In addition to the FLIR, Litening has a CCD camera, to improve daytime performance, a laser designator and rangefinder. The laser detects the laser energy from a secondary source, enabling ground or airborne forward-air controllers to designate the targets for the fighter aircraft.

Raytheon's ATP proposal is a modified version of the Navy's AT-FLIR, which is part of a line of targeting pods called Terminator, said Mark Day, a company spokesman.

The system has a 3rd Gen FLIR focal plane staring array, said Vic Taber, Raytheon's program manager for AT-FLIR. The hardware in the Air Force ATP is 80-90 percent common with the Navy AT-FUR.

The Terminator pods also are used on the V-22 Osprey, the Royal Australian Navy's SH-2G and the U.S. Air Force Global Hawk unmanned aircraft.

The primary difference between the Navy AT-FLIR and the Air Force ATP is the cooling system, explained Taber. The Navy pod gets cooling from the platform aircraft, the F/A-18. "The F-16 is not capable of doing that, so we have added an on-board environmental conditioning system in the pod itself," he said.

The Navy employs the targeting pod in a specific weapon station. That location dictates the design and the dimensions of the pod, said Taber. The Air Force is not limited to the same size and dimension as the Navy. For the Air Force ATP, Raytheon developed a pylon adapter, which the Navy does nor need because its pods are mounted in a missile cavity.