NORTHROP HAS been selected by Israel's Rafael as its US partner for marketing the Litening navigation and targeting pod.
The US Company will market the pod to the US Air Force and other air forces, operating US-built fighters.
Martin Marietta had also offered to market the Litening, but Israel's armament-development authority was concerned that the US Company's association with the rival LANTIRN pod system would create problems.
Meanwhile, Israel's Elbit has opted to add the Litening to the upgrade of the Romanian air force's Mikoyan MiG-21s. The defence-electronics company is the prime contractor for the upgrade programme.
The Litening enables pilots to perform low-level night flights and to detect and identify ground targets. The system has so far logged 30 test flights on Israeli air force Lockheed F-16s. Deliveries to the air force are scheduled to begin in mid-1996.
Source: Flight International
