A US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet flew with a Northrop Grumman AAQ-28(v) Litening Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) for the first time last week, after it was selected to replace Raytheon ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pods across the USN Super Hornet fleet earlier this year.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) first expressed interest in replacing ATFLIR in 2019, with the release of a Request For Information (RFI) evaluating potential cost-effective replacements.
“This first flight demonstrated Litening’s ability to rapidly add modern, upgradeable mission capabilities to the Super Hornet. The pod’s digital video, autonomous target tracking, and laser sensors will give Naval aviators an entirely new set of capabilities,” said James Conroy, Vice President, Navigation, Targeting and Survivability at Northrop Grumman.
The Raytheon-developed ATFLIR has been the USN's standard targeting pod since it achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in 2003. As well as the USN, ATFLIR is also carried by legacy Hornets operated by Malaysia and Switzerland as well as Australian Super Hornets. The pod also equipped US Marine Corps (USMC) legacy Hornets deployed aboard aircraft carriers, before their final carrier deployment last year.
Back in 2008, the Royal Australian Air Force selected ATFLIR for its then-new fleet of Super Hornets, rather than Litening, which had been used by the service's classic Hornets since 2006. The RAAF's fleet of E/A-18G Growlers, delivered from 2015, are also equipped with ATFLIR.
ATFLIR was selected by the RAAF out of a desire to standardise with the USN wherever possible, and because it was the only certified targeting pod available for the Super Hornet at the time. Since then other targeting pods, including Lockheed Martin's Sniper, have been successfully integrated with the platform.
Since the legacy Hornets' retirement in favour of the F-35A, some RAAF Litening pods have been deployed by No. 37 Squadron, aboard its fleet of C-130J airlifters. Litening-equipped C-130Js have been deployed operationally, albeit without the targeting function, both domestically during Operation Flood Assist 2022, and overseas during Operation Tonga Assist 2022.