Defense News
02/01/2010
Singapore Airshow: Lockheed, USAF Sign Sniper ATP Contract
By Wendell Minnick
SINGAPORE - Lockheed Martin has secured a $59 million contract for additional Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP) for the U.S. Air Force (USAF).
According to a Feb. 1 press release issued at the Singapore Airshow, the order represents the second increment on the U.S. Air Force's Sniper ATP Lot 9 contract from September 2009, bringing the total value of the Lot 9 deal to $95 million.
"This Lot 9 increment beings total Sniper ATP sales to more than 650 pods for the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard and 12 international air forces," said Lockheed's Ken Fuhr, director of Fixed-wing Targeting Programs. "Recent orders have also been received from Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the Turkish Air Force."
Since its first deployment in 2005, the Sniper has become operational in the USAF, Air National Guard and multi-national F-16, F-15, B-1, F/A-18, Harrier and A-10 aircraft. Platform expansion continues on the B-52, Tornado, Typhoon and on unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Lot 9 pods will be used to support additional USAF deployments and allow the Air Force to allocate pod resources to home-station training, enabling aircrews to train with the equipment they will use in deployed operations, said the press release.
"The Sniper ATP's modular design facilitates easy field upgrade to pods already in service and enables rapid flight line repair to maintain a 98 percent fully mission capable rate."
