Networked Sniper Pod Will Let 4th-Generation Fighters Create ‘Kill Webs’ With F-35s
Lockheed Martin has rolled out a new version of its Sniper targeting pod with added networking capabilities primarily designed to provide a secure link between non-stealthy fourth-generation fighters like the F-16 Viper and stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. However, the pod can also exchange information with other assets in the air and on the ground, including artillery units. As such, it offers the ability to act as a hub in its own miniature ‘kill web’ that could provide immense advantages to friendly forces in the air and down below.
Unveiled earlier this week at the biennial Farnborough Air Show in the United Kingdom, the Sniper Networked Targeting Pod retains the same targeting functionality found in the preceding Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP). In its existing form, Sniper ATP features electro-optical and infrared video cameras, a laser spot tracker and designator, and the ability to generate target coordinates for GPS-guided munitions. It can also be used for more general air-to-ground surveillance and reconnaissance tasks and offers a secondary air-to-air target detection and identification capability. Beyond steering its sensors manually, it can be cued to an object of interest via other systems on the host aircraft, such as its radar or a pilot’s helmet-mounted display.
The new networked version of the pod, development of which began in the middle of last year, has the same general form factor as its predecessor, but with the particularly prominent addition of a conformal antenna on the bottom, as seen in the graphic below. With help from the Skunk Works advanced projects division and other parts of the company, it took Lockheed Martin less than half a year to produce a prototype of the system for flight testing.
