Litening Targeting Pods Fly "Down Under"
06 September 2005 -- The Australian MOD has chosen the Litening AT targeting and navigation system for its F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft.
Litening, developed by Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd, is being manufactured by a Northrop Grumman / Rafael team. The Litening AT pod was selected by the Australian MOD from a number of major-name competitors as part of a project worth more than $100M.
Australian Defence Minister, Robert Hill, said that "the Litening AT will be a vital component of the Hornet's weapon systems and will improve the detection, identification, precision-targeting and damage assessment phases of the F/A-18 air support operations." The first Australian squadron is expected to be equipped with the new targeting system by early 2007.
Senior officials at Rafael feel that the Australian success is extremely important, as it enhances Litening's position in both the US and international F/A-18 markets.
Litening AT has a wide customer base of F/A-18 users. The US Marine Corps has recently placed an order for 24 Litening AT Systems for their F/A-18's. In addition, Litening is currently flying on the Spanish F/A-18's and is a candidate for the Canadian F/A-18's.
Litening AT, supplied by the Northrop-Rafael team is widely used by the US Air National Guard and the US Air Force Reserve on F-16s, by USAF Air Combat Command on the F-15's, as well as on the US Marine Corps' AV-8B's. The Israeli F-16's fly with the Northrop-Rafael Litening pods as well.
Litening has also been integrated and is flying on the Swedish Gripens, German Tornados and is in the process of integration onto the Eurofighter Typhoons.
RAFAEL designs, develops, manufactures and supplies a wide range of advanced defense systems. These leading edge products include naval, air and ground precision weapons, electro-optic systems, electronic warfare (EW) systems, Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) systems, acoustic defense systems, armored protection and training systems.
For more information contact:
Mr. Amit Zimmer, RAFAEL Spokesman
Tel: +972-52-889-0425 – amitz@rafael.co.il
Mrs. Gila Harel – RAFAEL, Marketing Communications
Tel: +972-4-879-1244 - gilah@rafael.co.il
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