AFA 2025: Production nears for upgraded Litening pod for USAF

Northrop Grumman's Litening Large Aperture electro-optic/infrared targeting and surveillance pod. (Northrop Grumman)

Northrop Grumman is preparing to launch production of the latest version of its Litening advanced targeting pod for the US Air Force (USAF). The service selected the Litening Large Aperture (LA) pod as an upgrade for its existing Litening pod inventory, according to a company statement in February 2024.

“Litening is a product line we've been working [on] for over 25 years… We're constantly upgrading it, we're constantly leveraging the latest technology,” Jim Conroy, vice-president of electronic warfare and targeting for Northrop Grumman, told Janes on 22 September at the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA's) Air, Space & Cyber Conference 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland.

“We currently have our digital pods and our digital colour pods that are in operational theatres,” he said, adding that “having a digital pod in the colour pod is a game changer”.

Conroy explained that the digital pod provides fully digital black and white imagery, which provides sufficient clarity to make decisions. Adding colour enables pilots to better see what ground forces see, such as the specific colour of a car, he said.

“The next step is something called large aperture,” Conroy said, explaining that a larger aperture increases the number of photons it can collect and extends range. The large aperture increases the range by about 50%, he added.

The new pod is also receiving new cameras with 50% better resolution and a long-wave detector, Conroy said. The latter can enable air-to-air capabilities, “while still keeping all of our other views, our midwaves, our shortwaves, our digital camera, our TV colours, having all of that capability in there”, he said.