NEW TARGETING AND NAVIGATION PODS

By Karl Schwarz

The introduction of Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infra- Red for Night (LANTIRN) in the late-1980s significantly boosted the US Air Force's capability to accurately attack ground targets in all weather conditions. The two pods for low-level navigation and target designation were first mounted on the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle and subsequently on the F-16 Fighting Falcon as well.

Today, however, a system that was born in the era of the Cold War no longer meets the altered requirements. Its first-generation thermal imaging sensor is no longer good enough for successful missions carried out from the now preferred attack altitudes of 10,000m or more. A replacement is needed, so the US Air Force ran a competition for an Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP), from which Lockheed Martin emerged as the winner last August.

Sniper XR (Extended Range) is the name of the new model produced at its "Combat Vision Center” in Orlando, Florida. Deliveries are expected to commence in September. An initial series of flight tests on the F-16 was completed at Edwards Air Force Base starting in April 2002, integration work for the Fighting Falcon having already got under way at the Ogden Air Logistics Center in Hill AFB, Utah at the end of last year.USAF's requirement is for 522 Sniper XR pods, worth $843 million. So far 44 firm orders have been placed, with the third batch of 21 pods carrying a price tag of $28.3 million, the equivalent of $1.35 million per pod, including spare parts and training. A first export success was announced by Lockheed Martin at the beginning of July: Norway has ordered nine of the pods, marketed internationally under the name of Pantera, for $27 million (including training, spare parts, technical support and maintenance services).

This means that Lockheed Martin is now firmly back in the race, even though Raytheon recently struck a deal worth around a billion with the US Navy for its Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infra-Red (ATFLIR). 574 ATFLIRs are to be purchased to equip the F-18C/D Hornet and F-18E/F Super Hornet. They will replace the Lockheed Martin AAS-38 NiteHawk, which is no longer in production.

Flight testing of the ATFLIR on the F-18 commenced in November 1999, since when over 550 test missions have been completed. In the course of this programme ten major defects were identified, but these have largely been rectified. In any case the US Navy is in a hurry to get ATFLIR into service. Upgraded pods from the development programme have therefore been delivered to the F-18E front-line squadron VFA-115, which is currently on board the "Abraham Lincoln” on its first major deployment. Deliveries of the production pods commenced in May, in line with an official entry into service date of May 2003.

The third major supplier of targeting pods is Rafael of Israel, which has been developing the LITENING pod since 1992. LITENING II was successfully marketed in the USA to the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve (F-16) and the Marine Corps (AV-8B) in partnership with Northrop Grumman. In Europe it was sold in partnership with Zeiss to the German Air Force and Navy (Tornado). The JAS 39 Gripen is also to be equipped with LITENING.

The United Kingdom developed the Thermal Imaging And Laser Designation (TIALD) pod for its Tornados in the 1980s; however, only 23 pods were purchased and the product is not internationally competitive either from the technological or financial viewpoints. France too is going its own way on targeting pods. After Rubis and CLDP, the Damocles pod is currently under development at Thales (formerly Thomson-CSF). Some of the development costs are being borne by the United Arab Emirates, which plans to equip its Mirage 2000-9's with the Damocles. At the end of 2000, the Aéronavale ordered 15 Damocles worth Euro 50 million. The first of these will be fitted to its Super Étendards.

From a technical point of view, all modern target designation and navigation pods are built the same way. Typically they consist of a rotatable and swivelling front section in which the sensors are installed, a middle section containing the electronics for the image processing and control and a rear section for the air conditioning which provides the necessary cooling. Only the ATFLIR can dispense with this latter component, as it draws engine bleed air from the F-18.

Critical to the capability of the pods are their sensors. The primary sensor here is forward-looking infra-red (FLIR), which normally operates in the medium wavelength range. The trend is towards detectors with ever higher resolution. Depending on the requirement, the FLIR can cover a wide range for flight guidance (for example, to provide imagery on the head-up display) or it can zoom in close-up for target recognition and attack. Identification of 10m-sized buildings from a distance of 70 km should be no problem.

Installation of TV cameras has proved very useful. These operate in a special wavelength and produce clear images even in light haze.

Naturally a laser is needed to illuminate the target. This operates at a wavelength of 1.064 microns (low atmospheric attenuation), and performance needs to be significantly improved for the distances required today. The requirements regarding precision are also becoming more demanding.

If targets are illuminated by other aircraft or by ground forces, then the laser spot tracker ensures that the pod is kept updated. The crew can then release a bomb, which guides itself to the externally illuminated target.

Accurate optics are essential for high targeting accuracy, and this must always be capable of being precisely controlled (to the nearest 10 or 12 microradians) whatever the prevailing environmental conditions (vibration, high acceleration forces etc.). As regards the electronics, considerable advances have been made in image processing, while automatic tracking of a target once detected is becoming more and more reliable.

High reliability and simple maintenance using built-in test facilities are also required. The Sniper XR has been designed so that only complete modules have to be replaced out in the field. These are then sent to the depot for maintenance. Assembly of a pod is expected to be possible in three-quarters of an hour, using a standard tool set.