AWST Editor flight test Enhanced Lantirn System on a RNLAF F-16
This Aviation Week & Space Technology editor had an opportunity to see the enhanced Lantirn targeting pod's capabilities during a Dutch F-16 flight at Naval Air Facility El Centro in southern California. The RNLAF had deployed seven F-16s to NAF El Centro for approximately 10 weeks, then rotated in crews for two weeks at a time. When I flew, pilots from RNLAF 313 Sqdn. and 315 Sqdn. were onsite, and most were there for concentrated Lantirn and night-vision-goggles (NVG) training.
"We come to El Centro because it has nice weather and we can get procedural training on Lantirn pods and NVGs in a short time," said Maj. Patrick (Spout) Tuit, a 322 Sqdn. flight commander at Leeuwarden AB, Netherlands, and reception team leader for the California deployment. Each pilot typically flew at least three day and two night missions at El Centro. Normally, 24 sorties were flown daily.
"FOR OUR FIGHTER PILOTS, El Centro is a dream come true," Tuit said. "It has a lot of ranges [nearby], and the good weather [means] that, if the jets are working, you will fly and you will get the training. In [a few] weeks, we can get a pilot targeting pod-qualified. That's a big thing for us."
Four Lantirn pods were available, all equipped with CCD TV cameras, but none had the 40,000-ft. laser system. High-altitude lasers were not necessary for missions near El Centro, where terrain elevation ranges from sea level to about 4,000 ft. Since then, all RNLAF targeting pods have had 40,000-ft. laser designators/rangefinders installed.
"If you want to stay 13,000-16,000 ft. above mountainous, high terrain--to stay above small-arms fire--the 40,000-ft. laser is nice to have," said Lt. Col. A.J. (Vidal) De Smit, a former flight commander for 322 Sqdn. "The [Lantirn] pod can track targets at any altitude, but [with the original 25,000-ft. laser system] you go above 25,000 ft. and the pod kills your laser. That's a concern for pilots when reacting to a threat. That concern has been taken away now. The 40,000-ft. laser gives a pilot more flexibility of operation," he said. Last year, De Smit was transferred to the Joint Strike Fighter program office in Washington, where he now serves as the F-35 Interoperability and Coalition Warfare representative.
Over the past 15 years, I had flown Lantirn missions on USAF test and operational F-16s, the F-15E and a Navy F-14, and had seen the system's capabilities improve steadily with each refinement. But the RNLAF's Lantirn version was the first with a CCD TV system installed. In 2000, I'd evaluated the Litening system during a USAF Reserve F-16 flight, and knew that a TV camera was a significant targeting asset during daylight operations, when the Sun's heat tends to wash out Flir images. That impression was strengthened by seeing how the RNLAF has capitalized on Lantirn's combination of CCD TV camera and Flir system to deliver precision weapons.
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