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USAF F-15E to Fly the LITENING

Northrop Grumman To Supply LITENING ER for USAF's F-15Es Eagles

02 June 2003 -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation's Electronic Systems sector a $32.6 million contract to provide 24 LITENING ER precision targeting systems for use aboard its F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft. This award follows recently completed efforts by an Air Force and contractor team to rapidly integrate the LITENING system with existing F-15E carriage provisions and interfaces. Deliveries of the contracted LITENING systems have already begun and should be completed by the middle of the year.

"Our LITENING team at Northrop Grumman worked closely with the Air Force, the Defense Micro Electronics Activity at the Department of Defense and Boeing's Strike Eagle team to make the F-15E integration a success," said Mike Lennon, vice president of Targeting and Surveillance Programs at Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division in Rolling Meadows, Ill.

"As a result of the successful integration of the LITENING pod with the F-15E, the Air Force has elected to provide its primary long-range air interdiction fighter with LITENING ER's combat-proven capabilities, including day and night tracking of both surface and airborne targets, infrared marking of targets for ground troops and two-level maintenance on the flight line." LITENING ER is a self-contained, multi-sensor laser target designating and navigation system that enables fighter pilots to detect, acquire, track and identify ground targets for highly accurate delivery of both conventional and precision-guided weapons. Developed and produced by RAFAEL, LITENING ER features include a 640 x 512 pixel forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera; charge-coupled device television; laser spot tracker/range finder; infrared marker; and a laser designator.

LITENING ER pods are currently fielded with Air National Guard (ANG) F-16s and U.S. Marine Corps AV-8Bs. LITENING ER's predecessor, the LITENING II system with a 256 FLIR, is also operational on ANG and Air Force Reserve Command F-16s and on AV-8Bs owned and operated by the Marine Corps, Israel Air Force, the Italian and Spanish navies, among many other air forces.

For further information please contact
RAFAEL public affairs. Tel: 972-4-8974777