The Air Force has chosen both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to provide upgraded versions of their respective Sniper and Litening targeting pods through 2017. Under the Advanced Targeting Pod-Sensor Enhancement program, the Air Force intends to purchase up to 670 pods combined from both companies during that period. For that purpose, it has entered into an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract arrangement with both suppliers that has a total potential value of $2.3 billion, if all options are exercised. Lockheed stated in a release Wednesday that it has won a 60-percent work share and Northrop’s own release indicates that it is eligible for 40 percent of the potential pod sales. Both companies said they have received initial task orders worth roughly $25 million apiece for testing their new sensor enhancement configurations.
The Air Force demonstrated that it can operate the remotely-piloted MQ-9 Reaper in long-range flights in the Pacific using limited ground support gear and non-specialist ground personnel. The demonstration provided a boost for its agile combat employment concept, the service said Dec. 7. The deployment required only seven people and…