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Northrop Grumman, RAFAEL Awarded 2nd LITENING Delivery Contract

U.S. Air Force Awards Northrop Grumman Second Contract For Litening Advanced Targeting Systems

19 June 2003 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's Defensive Systems Division will provide the new LITENING advanced targeting (AT) system capability to support U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers.

The U.S. Air Force Materiel Command's System Program Office, which supports multi-service/multinational targeting requirements, awarded the contract. Totaling $16.3 million, the award includes 10 new LITENING AT pods, the retrofit of 47 LITENING extended range (ER) pods to LITENING AT status and additional upgrades and services. The Marine Corps LITENING AT version includes enhanced image processing and precision target coordinate generation.

"The AT configuration provides a significant advancement in combat capability for employing both laser guided or GPS guided precision weapons," said Mike Lennon, vice president of targeting and surveillance programs at Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division. "The upgrade to LITENING AT will give Marine Corps AV-8Bs the best targeting system flying today."

The Air National Guard (ANG) became the first to select LITENING AT for its fleet of F-16s. LITENING AT predecessors, LITENING II and LITENING ER, are currently fielded with ANG F-16s and A-10s; Air

Force Reserve Command F-16s; the Marine Corps, Italian and Spanish AV-8Bs, and U.S. Air Force F-15Es. These customers will have ordered a total of 260 pods by the end of this year.

The Northrop Grumman LITENING AT developed and produced by RAFAEL, 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. LITENING AT also features a 640 x 512 pixel forward-looking infrared camera; charge-coupled device television; laser spot tracker/range finder; infrared marker; laser designator; and two-level maintenance previously fielded with LITENING ER.


For further information please contact
RAFAEL public affairs. Tel: 972-4-8791244