ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., March 3, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) 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 MicroElectronics 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, 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."
The Northrop Grumman LITENING ER is a self-contained, multisensor 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 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 and the Italian and Spanish navies.
Headquartered in Baltimore, Md., Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of defense electronics systems including airborne radar systems, navigation systems, electronic warfare systems, precision weapons, airspace management systems, air defense systems, communications systems, space systems, marine systems, oceanic and naval systems, logistics systems, and automation and information systems.
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