Lockheed's order for sniper advanced targeting pods (explained!)

08 Feb 2010 8ak/LM PR: Lockheed Martin has received a US$59 million US air force order for supplying additional sniper advanced targeting pods (ATPs). The order is over and above the original ATP order for 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.

Lot 9 pods will be used to support additional U.S. 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 U.S. 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.

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. 

More on the Sniper ATP is on Lockheed's website here. The Sniper ATP is operational on U.S. 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. The combat-proven Sniper Pod is the U.S. Air Force's advanced targeting pod (ATP). The Sniper ATP provides critical long- range, positive identification of targets and possesses a video down link (VDL) equipped with the widely used Rover ground receiver to relay high resolution streaming video to forward-deployed forces for NT-ISR and rapid target coordination. It's advanced target identification capabilities enhance the Warfighter’s ability to detect and analyse ground targets while dramatically decreasing the risks posed by enemy air defences.

The Sniper ATP also provides essential non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance using high-resolution, mid-wave FLIR and TV sensors, which operate in conjunction with a dual-mode laser, permitting eye-safe operation and precise geo-location in urban environments. 

For target coordination, the Sniper pod possesses a laser spot tracker to acquire other laser spots from air and ground assets, an infrared marker visible to night vision goggles and a VDL to ground forces. Sniper ATP provides real-time targeting for J-series weapons and its state-of-the-art tracker enables employment of advanced laser-guided weapons against moving targets. The Sniper ATP is the only targeting pod fielded that incorporates meta-data in every frame of video. The date/time stamp and coordinate information further ensure accuracy throughout intelligence and command and control functions. 

Comments

[Jason Verdugo]

SNIPER pods are now becoming a combination of commercial of the shelf components or COTS integrated into a small and robust package. Its this capability of integration and construction of robust componets (robust for extremes of temperature, vibration and shock) that are key to a military system.