Jane Edwards
Lockheed Martin has secured a delivery order to supply Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods to Kuwait under a foreign military sales agreement with the U.S. government.
The U.S. Air Force placed the order under a potential $485 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract awarded in March 2015, Lockheed said Monday.
The order covers 14 Snipers ATPs, support tools, spares and integration support.
Lockheed will start deliveries in 2018 and integrate the pods with the Kuwait air force’s fleet of F/A-18C/D Hornet fighter jets.
Paul Lemmo, vice president of fire control/special operations forces contractor logistics support services at Lockheed’s missiles and fire control, said the targeting pods work to provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting support to fighter aircraft in threat environments.
Lockheed has begun flight tests of Sniper ATPs aboard the U.S. Navy’s Super Hornet aircraft and secured a contract in September 2016 to integrate the pods with Kuwait’s Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
Sniper ATP works to detect and engage moving and fixed targets at long ranges through the use of short-wave infrared, Global Scope software and two-color laser spot tracking systems and is designed for integration with F-2, F-15, F-16, B-1, B-52 and A-10 aircraft.
The order came nearly a year after the Air Force ordered $99 million worth of targeting pods for delivery to 10 foreign government clients and nearly two years Kuwait placed an order for Sniper ATPs valued at approximately $115 million.
