Lockheed Martin receives $59 million for Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods
Lockheed Martin has received $59 million from the US Air Force for additional Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP). This order represents the second increment on the US Air Force’s Sniper ATP Lot 9 contract, originally awarded in September 2009, bringing the total value of the Lot 9 buy to $95 million.
Delivering the highest resolution imagery for precision targeting and non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the Sniper ATP plays a major role in Air Force operations in theater, providing top cover for ground forces, as well as increasing the safety of civilian populations.
“This Lot 9 increment brings total Sniper ATP sales to more than 650 pods for the US Air Force, Air National Guard and 12 international air forces,” said Ken Fuhr, director of Fixed-wing Targeting Programs at Lockheed Martin. “Recent orders have also been received from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and the Turkish Air Force.”
Lot 9 pods will be used to support additional US Air Force deployments and allow the Air Force to allocate pod resources to home-station training, enabling aircrews to train with the equipment they will use in deployed operations. Deployed in theater on US Air Force and coalition partner F-15, F-16, A-10 and B-1 aircraft, the Sniper ATP is the most widely used targeting pod in combat operations.
Lockheed Martin continues to infuse new hardware and algorithms into the Sniper ATP, expanding its missions and combat capabilities. Lot 9 Sniper pod technology will include a new data link capability, enhanced multiple moving target tracker, the capability to deliver legacy weapons and new weapon variants on moving targets, and weapon damage estimation radius displays to reduce the potential for collateral damage.
Since its first deployment in 2005, the Sniper ATP has enabled aircrews to operate well outside jet noise ranges, permitting forces to identify, track and defeat targets without detection. Its common software and hardware interface provide interoperability across aircraft fleets. The Sniper ATP is operational on US Air Force, Air National Guard and multinational F-16, F-15, B-1, F-18, Harrier and A-10 aircraft. Platform expansion continues with the B-52, Tornado, Typhoon, unmanned aerial vehicles and additional aircraft.
The Sniper ATP’s modular design facilitates easy field upgrade to pods already in service and enables rapid flight line repair to maintain a 98 percent fully mission capable rate.
Source: Lockheed Martin
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