Air Force receives Northrop LITENING G4s

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ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman reports its delivery of the first 50 LITENING G4 Advanced Targeting Pods under a $277.8 million contract from the U.S. Air Force.

"Completing Lot 1 is an important milestone because it puts a significant capability in the hands of our warfighters," said Jim Mocarski, vice president of Electro Optical/Infrared Targeting Systems at Northrop Grumman.

"It also demonstrates our expanded production and upgrade capacity to execute Lot 2, our Marine Corps G4 and U.S. Air Force Advanced Targeting Pod-Sensor Enhancement orders."

The LITENING G4 Advanced Targeting Pod is the latest addition to the company's LITENING family of targeting pods, delivering advancements in sensor, laser imaging and data link technology.

LITENING G4's full 1Kx1K Forward Looking Infrared and Charge-Coupled Device sensors, wider field of view and enhanced zoom deliver more accurate target identification and location at longer ranges than previous generations of LITENING targeting pod systems, Northrop said.

Its short-wave, infrared laser imaging provides a unique capability to capture images in situations where forward-looking infrared and CCD are ineffective.

"The prior generation LITENING AT pods are upgradable to the G4 configuration," Mocarski said.

Northrop Grumman has delivered more than 550 targeting pod systems to U.S. and international customers. The systems have maintained an operational availability greater than 98 percent and have flown more than 540,000 combat flight hours.

LITENING G4 has begun full operations at its first military base with seven additional base deployments planned in the near future.