South Korea Receives First Lockheed Martin Sniper® Pods

[Someoneforyou]

Republic of Korea Air Force Receives First Lockheed Martin Sniper® Pods
18 april 2011

ORLANDO, Fl, April 18th, 2011 -- The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) recently received Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Sniper pods for their F-15K aircraft. Delivered to Daegu Air Base, South Korea, these pods will be immediately deployed into full flight operations with the ROKAF F-15K fleet.

"Sniper pods provide the ROKAF with updated targeting and non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (NTISR) capabilities for the F-15K fleet," said Marc Nazon, program manager for Fixed Wing Fire Control at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "We look forward to continued support and training to ensure that ROKAF pilots and maintainers have a full command of the Sniper pod's capabilities."

In 2009, Lockheed Martin demonstrated the benefits of Sniper pod's capability for ROKAF by successfully flying Sniper on the F-15K and the KF-16 aircraft with a common Sniper pod software load. This capability allows operators to readily deploy the pod on various aircraft types, significantly reducing targeting pod life cycle costs.

Sniper pods are flying on U.S. Air Force and multinational F-16, F-15, B-1, F-18, Harrier, A-10 and B-52 aircraft. The Sniper pod identifies targets at long ranges and offers the capability to relay high-resolution streaming video using a video downlink to ground forces for NTISR and rapid target coordination.


Source: Lockheed Martin

 

[Someoneforyou]

Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod

AN/AAQ-33

The combat-proven Sniper Pod is the U.S. Air Force's advanced targeting pod (ATP) of record. 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. Its advanced target identification capabilities enhance the Warfighter's ability to detect and analyze ground targets while dramatically decreasing the risks posed by enemy air defenses.

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.

A precision targeting system in a single, lightweight pod, Sniper ATP is designed for current and future aircraft. Sniper ATP is currently flying on the U.S. Air Force and multinational F-16, F-15, B-1, F-18, Harrier, A-10, B-52 and Tornado aircraft. Its common software and hardware interface design enables users to "plug and play" across services and multiple platforms, providing a common software and hardware configuration across aircraft fleets for greater interoperability.

Source: Lockheed Martin