Northrop Grumman has been awarded a four-year extension by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to the existing support contract for the LITENING AT system, used as the RAAF's Target Designation System for F/A-18 Hornet aircraft (HTDS).

The contract extension valued at approximately $8 million (U.S. dollars) provides for in-service support for the targeting pods and data links through to September 2015.

"This four-year extension reflects the continued success of the LITENING program, and reinforces the positive relationship that Northrop Grumman has established with the RAAF," said Charles Brinkman, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Targeting Systems Division.

Northrop Grumman's LITENING AT system is a self-contained, multisensor weapon-aiming system that enables fighter pilots to detect, identify, track and designate targets for highly accurate delivery of both conventional and precision-guided weapons.

Fully integrated to support both air-to-air and air-to-ground engagements, LITENING AT features

+ advanced image processing for target identification;

+ coordinate generation for GPS weapons;

+ a 640 x 512 pixel forward-looking infrared sensor for effective day and night operations;

+ a 1,024 x 1,024 pixel charge-coupled device television sensor;

+ a dual waveband infrared laser designator and eye-safe laser range finder;

+ a laser spot tracker;

+ an infrared laser marker;

+ and an optional air-to-ground video data link and digital video recorder.

Over 550 LITENING pods have been delivered to date, continuing to prove their combat capabilities and inherent flexibility to adapt to changing operational requirements.

Integrated on a wide variety of aircraft including AV-8B, A-10A/C, B-52H, EA-6Bs, F-15E, F-16 and F/A-18, LITENING is in operation with the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, the U.S. Marine Corps, the Italian and Spanish navies, the Israeli Air Force, the Royal Netherlands Air Force, the Finnish Air Force, and the Portuguese Air Force, in addition to the RAAF.