LANTIRN ( Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night ) is a combined navigation and targeting pod system for use on the United States Air Force fighter aircraft—the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon (Block 40/42 C & D models) manufactured by Martin Marietta ( Lockheed Martin after the 1995 merger). LANTIRN significantly increases the combat effectiveness of these aircraft, allowing them to fly at low altitudes, at night and under-the-weather to attack ground targets with a variety of precision-guided weapons .
25-467: United States military electronic system program This article is about a military electronic system. For other uses, see Pave (disambiguation) . [REDACTED] An early Pave Sword laser pod on a F-4D during the Vietnam War , 1971. PAVE is a United States Air Force program identifier relating to electronic systems. Prior to 1979, Pave was said to be
50-483: A Global Positioning System and inertial measurement unit that provided the pod line-of-sight cueing and weapon release ballistics and eliminated the need for external cumbersome and time-consuming boresight equipment. Unlike the early versions, the LTS performed all weapon release calculations and presented release cues that it had generated to the aircrew. The LTS also had a masking avoidance curve display (preventing firing
75-1048: A code word for the Air Force unit responsible for the project. Pave was used as an inconsequential prefix identifier for a wide range of different programs, though backronyms and alternative meanings have been used. For example, in the helicopters Pave Low and Pave Hawk it was said to mean Precision Avionics Vectoring Equipment , but in PAVE PAWS it was said to mean Precision Acquisition Vehicle Entry . PAVE systems [ edit ] Pave Eagle – Modified Beechcraft Bonanza drone aircraft for low altitude sensor monitoring. Pave Hawk – Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk special operations and combat search and rescue helicopter. Pave Nail - OV-10 Bronco with Pave Spot target laser designator pod. Pave Knife – Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-10 Pave Knife early laser targeting pod. Pave Low – Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low special ops and combat search and rescue helicopter. Pave Mint – Upgrade of
100-420: A terrain-following radar and a fixed thermographic camera , which provides a visual cue and input to the aircraft's flight control system, enabling it to maintain a pre-selected altitude above the terrain and avoid obstacles. This sensor displays an infrared image of the terrain in front of the aircraft, to the pilot, on a Head-up display . The navigation pod enables the pilot to fly along the general contour of
125-688: A list of PAVE program names relating to Laser Guided bombs Nicknames and Practice Terms , Department of the Air Force, 15 March 1979, p. 30 , retrieved 31 January 2022 v t e US Air Force PAVE Electronics Systems PAVE Eagle PAVE Hawk Pave Knife PAVE Low PAVE Mint PAVE Mover PAVE Onyx PAVE Pace PAVE PAWS Pave Penny PAVE Pillar Pave Pronto PAVE Spectre Pave Spike PAVE Sword Pave Tack Paveway Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=PAVE&oldid=1250762643 " Category : Equipment of
150-646: The AN/AAQ-33 Sniper pod. Until the early 1990s, the F-14 Tomcat didn't have clearance to drop bombs even though all Tomcats were built with a Stores Management System (SMS) that included air-to-ground options as well as rudimentary software in the AWG-9 . Early flight clearance work to clear the aircraft for air-to-ground were suspended due to development delays with the F-14 and it being shifted away from
175-802: The AGM-65 Maverick imaging infrared missiles, and software for automatic target tracking. These features simplify the functions of target detection, recognition and attack and permit pilots of single-seat fighters to attack targets with precision-guided weapons on a single pass. A downgraded version for export with the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile compatibility deleted is designated as AN/AAQ-19 Sharpshooter . The research and development program began in September 1980 with Martin Marietta Corp. (now Lockheed Martin ), Orlando, FL, as contractor. Initial operational test and evaluation of
200-776: The AN/ALQ-117 electronic warfare system to the AN/ALQ-172. Pave Mover – Demonstration program to develop the AN/APY-7 radar wide-area surveillance, ground moving target indicator (GMTI), fixed target indicator (FTI) target classification, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), for the E-8 Joint STARS . Pave Onyx – Vietnam era Advanced Location Strike System c.1973. Pave Pace – A fully integrated avionics architecture featuring functional resource allocation. PAVE PAWS – The Phased-Array Warning System which replaced
225-734: The LANTIRN navigation pod was successfully completed in December 1984. The Air Force approved low-rate initial production of the navigation pod in March 1985 and full-rate production in November 1986. The first production pod was delivered to the Air Force March 31, 1987. LANTIRN represented a major advance in the U.S. military's ability to carry out operations in darkness and adverse weather, and has been developed further into its successor,
250-578: The Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program (Report). Champaign, IL: U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. LCCN 97020912 . Archived from the original on December 1, 2012 . Retrieved 2013-04-23 . Bibliography [ edit ] "Laser Guided Bombs" . Federation of American Scientists . Retrieved 24 May 2015 . - Contains
275-529: The Tomcat in order for it to operate the LTS. All pod controls are in the RIO's cockpit, but the bomb release button is situated with the pilot. The LTS had a price tag of around 3 million US Dollars each and due to these high costs, only 75 were bought for fleet use. Typically, an F-14 squadron brought 6 to 8 pods with them on deployment, which would be permanently fitted to the non- TARPS jets. The first combat use of
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#1732783603519300-626: The United States Air Force Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Pave (disambiguation) Pave may refer to: Paves may refer to: PAVE may refer to: Pavé may refer to: LANTIRN LANTIRN consists of a navigation pod and a targeting pod mounted externally beneath the aircraft. The AN/AAQ-13 navigation pod provides high-speed penetration and precision attack on tactical targets at night and in adverse weather. The navigation pod contains
325-412: The accuracy of the coordinates produced by the LTS and allowed generated coordinates for GPS/INS guided weapons ( JDAM , JSOW and WCMD ). The first combat use of this was during Operation Enduring Freedom when an F-14 generated coordinates for a B-52 that dropped a CBU-103 WCMD from over 40,000 feet (12,000 m). These weapons scored hits on a vehicle convoy that had stopped after the first vehicle
350-551: The air to ground mission. At the time, the Tomcat was so expensive (and lacked proper defensive electronic countermeasures ( DECM ) and radar homing and warning ( RHAW ) for overland operations) that the Navy did not want to risk it in the air-to-ground role. However, the TARPS mission had proven the Tomcat was survivable overland and upgrades to the Tomcat's DECM, expendables and RHAW gear were developed to increase its survivability. With
375-624: The decision had been made by Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) to retire the A-6 altogether and allow the F-14 Block 1 Strike variant to take over as the precision strike platform for the air wing. However, the $ 1.6B Block 1 Strike program was canceled in budgetary cuts by 1994 with only enough funding to integrate the JDAM, which was years away. In late 1994, an unsolicited proposal from Martin Marietta
400-826: The early 1970s. See also [ edit ] Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) LANTIRN References [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] ^ Engineering Panel on the PAVE PAWS Radar System (1979). Radiation Intensity of the PAVE PAWS Radar System (PDF) (Report). National Academy of Sciences. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 14, 2014 . Retrieved 2014-06-05 . ^ "Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR)" . Federation of American Scientists . Retrieved 24 May 2015 . ^ Photographs / Written Historical and Descriptive Data: Cape Cod Air Station Technical Facility/Scanner Building and Power Plant (PDF) (Report). p. 2. Archived from
425-465: The early success and interest from Fleet Commanders, NAVAIR began to procure pods and control units for deployment, resulting in VF-103 receiving the first LANTIRN pod June 14, 1996 in time for its upcoming deployment. The basic LANTIRN was modified into LANTIRN Targeting System (LTS), the navigation pod was removed from the two-pod system and the targeting pod was improved for Tomcat use. The LTS featured
450-542: The end of the Cold War and de-emphasis on the Fleet Air Defense mission, NAVAIR had renewed flight clearance work before Desert Storm so the F-14 could carry gravity bombs as well as laser-guided bombs if the target was lased by another jet (first Tomcat LGB drop in combat was made by VF-41 in 1995 during operations over Bosnia with an A-6 Intruder providing the requisite target illumination). Meanwhile,
475-408: The infrared sensor, and pilots must rely on their own skill to avoid ground obstacles at low altitude flight. The AN/AAQ-14 targeting pod contains a high-resolution, forward looking infrared sensor (which displays an infrared image of the target to the pilot), a laser designator / rangefinder for precise delivery of laser-guided munitions , a missile boresight correlator for automatic lock-on of
500-578: The laser at the jet) and eventually a north orientation curve and 12,200 m (40,000 ft) capable laser. The latter became very useful allowing F-14s to employ LGBs above potential threat systems and it came into its own in the higher terrain in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom . The LTS could also generate coordinates for any target located on the FLIR, and a latter software modification, known as T3 (Tomcat Tactical Targeting) increased
525-485: The original (PDF) on 2014-07-15 . Retrieved 2014-06-10 . ^ "The Acronym That Wasn't" . Aerofiles . Retrieved 24 May 2015 . ^ Smith, John Q.; Byrd, David A (1991). Forty Years of Research and Development at Griffis Air Force Base: June 1951 – June 1991 (Report). Rome Laboratory. p. 130. Archived from the original on April 8, 2013 . Retrieved 2014-03-10 . ^ Winkler, David F; Webster, Julie L (June 1997). Searching
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#1732783603519550-576: The terrain at high speed, using mountains, valleys and the cover of darkness to avoid detection. The pod was the USAF 's first wide-field, forward looking infrared navigation system for air superiority fighters . A downgraded version for export with the terrain-following radar deleted is designated as the AN/AAQ-20 Pathfinder , which is only capable of providing a visual cue/picture of ground features in darkness and adverse weather generated by
575-914: The three BMEWS radars. Pave in this case is a backronym for Perimeter or Precision Acquisition Vehicle Entry. Pave Penny – Lockheed-Martin AN/AAS-35(V) laser spot tracker. Pave Pillar – Generic core avionics architecture system for combat aircraft. Pave Pronto – Lockheed AC-130 Spectre gunship program. Pave Spectre – Lockheed AC-130E gunships. Pave Spike – Westinghouse AN/ASQ-153\AN/AVQ-23 electro-optical laser designator pod. Pave Sword – AN/AVQ-11 Pave Sword laser tracker. Pave Tack – Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-26 electro-optical targeting pod. Used first on F-4 and then later on F-111 F model aircraft. Paveway – A family of laser-guided bomb conversion kits, to be fitted to standard unguided bombs. Pave COIN /Project Little Brother - A USAF program evaluating counter insurgency aircraft during
600-415: Was destroyed by the Tomcat with LGBs. The pod also featured an internal computer with ballistics data for the various precision munitions carried by the F-14. Data is fed to the pod by the Tomcat's AWG-9 (F-14A and F-14B) and AN/APG-71 (F-14D) radar, but the LTS in turn only sends video and guidance symbology to the crew's cockpit displays. This means that few wiring and software changes had to be made to
625-445: Was initiated to demonstrate how a USAF LANTIRN targeting pod could be rapidly integrated onto the Tomcat. This effort was done under the auspices of Commander, Naval Air Forces Atlantic Fleet (COMNAVAIRLANT) using a fleet aircraft to integrate the digital 1553 -based pod on an analog F-14B. In March 1995 a VF-103 fleet aircraft successfully dropped the first laser-guided training rounds (LGTR) and quickly laser-guided bombs (LGB). Due to
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