Northrop Grumman was awarded a $486 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy for procurement of up to 99 LITENING advanced targeting pods; and 241 upgrade kits and associated repair support for AV-8B (domestic and allied), F/A-18A+/C/D, EA-6B, A-10, F-15, F-16, and B-52 aircraft.
Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Ill., and is expected to be completed in December 2012. The contract combines purchases for the Navy ($257.6 million; 53 percent) and the Air Force ($228.4 million; 47 percent).
The LITENING system is a self-contained, multi-sensor weapon aiming system that enables pilots to detect, acquire, auto-track and identify targets for delivery of both conventional and precision-guided weapons. LITENING AT features image processing for target identification; coordinate generation for GPS weapons; a 640 x 512 pixel forward-looking infrared sensor for day and night operations; a 1,024 x 1,024 pixel charge-coupled device television sensor; a new dual waveband infrared laser designator and range finder; a laser spot tracker; an infrared laser marker; and an optional air-to-ground data link and digital video recorder.