Saudi Air Force to Receive Advanced Targeting Pods

The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is set to take delivery of advanced targeting pods (ATPs) from Lockheed Martin, under a foreign military sales contract.

Lockheed will supply the $40m ATPs to improve the precision targeting, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability of the RSAF's F-15S aircraft.

Featuring exceptional image quality and stability, the Sniper ATPs will deliver precise weapon targeting for multiple, fixed and moving targets, according to Lockheed Martin.

They will also offer a high-performance datalink for real-time coordination between aircrews, ground troops and real-time weapon damage estimation radius display to reduce collateral damage.

It is used as a non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance asset for convoy route reconnaissance and battlefield situational awareness.

It is operational with the F-15, F-16, A-10, B-1, CF-18, Harrier GR7 and GR9 aircraft.

The RSAF, which first purchased Sniper pods in March 2009, completed the operational evaluation of the pod on the F-15S in January 2010.