Rafael’s Next Gen Litening 5 targeting pod may be offered to India

warrior monk

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Earlier this year Rafael unveiled latest 5th generation Litening 5 reconnaissance and targeting at the Paris Airshow. Rafael claims that Litening 5 which employs a new sensor pack which utilizing an optional assembly and larger aperture tailored specifically for new sensors enabling strike aircraft to employ guided weapons from standoff range without relying on external supports.

While Litening 5 will become fully operational at the end of 2016 it will be offered to Current Air force operators who are currently operating older Litening targeting Pod for evaluations and India is among countries who will get to evaluate new targeting Pod.

Rafael Litening 5 targeting pod is currently be integrated on Airbus Defence & Space owned Eurofighter combat aircraft and likely will be offered later to all Operators of Eurofighter fighter jets.

Indian air force has been using Litening 3 Pods on Sukhoi-30KI, Mig-29, Mirage-2000, Jaguar and Indigenous developed LCA-Tejas and last year India placed order for 150 Litening G4 for its frontline fighter aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-29 and others.

Litening 5 maintains same dimensions and form which means new Pod can be integrated into different aircraft types among existing customers with ease and evaluation is part of product demonstration effort to make aware of the new products capabilities said sources close to idrw.org which doesn’t mean immediate orders .

Rafael dubs Litening 5 as intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance system which uses two FLIRS a Mid-wave infrared and Shortwave infrared which comes with color CCD HD-TV which vastly improves target recognition and separation of man made objects which are usually harder to spot .


http://idrw.org/rafaels-next-gen-li...ikely-to-be-offered-to-india-for-evaluations/
 

warrior monk

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Rafael Unveiling Litening 5, RecceLite XR
Coupling Rafael’s latest reconnaissance and targeting pods with scene-matching electro-optical-guided weapons enables air forces to tighten targeting cycles from days and hours to a few seconds.

Rafael (Static A8) is unveiling the Litening 5 at the Paris Air Show. The fifth generation of the targeting pod that defined this product category two decades ago is now capable of targeting from long range, enabling strike aircraft to employ guided weapons from standoff range without relying on external support.


Litening 5 employs a new sensor pack, utilizing an optical assembly and larger aperture tailored specifically for the new sensors, enabling the increased identification and recognition distance. The pod uses two FLIRS – a Mid-Wave Infra-Red (IR) and Short Wave IR (SWIR). The later extends observation range using active laser illumination. Complementing the sensor pack is a color CCD HD-TV, improving target recognition and separation of man-made objects that are often harder to spot in the thermal, monochromatic image. Color improves the ability to share a common understanding with ground forces and recognize specific vehicles based on their color. Images can be fused or displayed separately, based on the level of avionics used in the aircraft.



Rafael’s “image-based common targeting language,” also known as Matchguide, is integrated in the new pod. This allows rapid target handoff between the targeting pod or ground-based forward air controller and guided weapons carried on board. Matchguide is fully integrated in the Litening 5, enabling the pilot or ground controller to designate a target simply by touching its image on a display to deliver the targeting as coordinates or a scene to the attacking weapon. This method dramatically shortens the “sensor to shooter cycle.”



Rafael is also introducing a new version of its tactical reconnaissance pod, RecceLite XR, at the Paris Air Show. This multi-spectral, multi-role, real-time standoff reconnaissance system consists of an airborne pod, a wide digital datalink and a ground exploitation station.



Similar to the Litening 5, Reccelite XR received an enhanced sensor package comprising megapixel-size arrays of Near-Infra-Red (NIR), MWIR, panchromatic (color) sensors and SWIR. As with the Litening 5, SWIR adds a significant long-range performance, since its spectral band is the least affected by atmospheric absorption. The gimbaled payload enables stabilized photography, irrespective of aircraft maneuvers or deviation from flight route.



Litening 5 and Reccelite XR share many common assemblies and modules and are carried by similar aircraft, thus contributing to efficient operation and lower life cycle support costs. More than 1,500 Litening targeting and navigation pods are currently flying on dozens of platform types with more than 25 air forces worldwide. RecceLite is in operational service with 10 air forces.



http://aviationweek.com/paris-air-show-2015/rafael-unveiling-litening-5-reccelite-xr
 

guru-dutt

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thats great first the news of I Derby ER and now Lightning G5 man these israelies are realli smart and hard working ... god bless israel
 

guru-dutt

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How does this fit into sensor-fused Rafale. Or does it not?
it can but onli if frenchies agree to it but they wont as they intend to sell there product which is twice as costli and needs/works onli fith french munations ... have a feeling the rafale deal is going to fail
 

warrior monk

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How does this fit into sensor-fused Rafale. Or does it not?
Rafale has its own Damocles a 3rd generation targeting pod which has laser designator , FLIR which is more integrated with Rafale's own sensor fused architecture . They have also unveiled a new targeting pod Thales Talios targeting pod which has high-definition(HD)mid-wave infrared (MWIR) thermal imager with a dual field-of-view combined visible and short-waveinfrared (VIR/SWIR) HDTV camera and a four-laser suite of rangefinder,designator,spot tracker and marker . Which will be integrated with our Rafale .
I guess India might even license produce the pod as offsets trasfer from Thales for Rafale deal .
 

Immanuel

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Well we first have to wait for the Rafale deal to be signed and going by the way its going, it may or may not happen and will take its own sweet time. Besides this Litening 5 Pod if acquired, will be done so for the Jaguar/LCA. While the new Damocles will be used on the Rafale & Mirages.
 

TannFrost

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I am a hobbiest and also working on the development of the automation of the weapons. I want to know from you people that what kind of sensors should i use to make weapon reliable in hard conditions. My weapons are not original they are just Demo. I want to know about the IR sensors and LASER.
 

Hari Sud

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Targeting pods have become more critical than the fighter itself. It does not matter what modern fighter you fly, what matters it that how accurately the targeting pod helps deliver the weapons.
 

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