The US Navy has completed initial flight testing of the Litening Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
The US Navy selected Northrop Grumman's Litening ATP in 2022 to replace Raytheon's Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod in F/A-18E/F fleet service.
"The tests put the electro-optical/infrared pod through a set of demanding maneuvers representative of operational scenarios." Northrop Grumman said in a statement.
ATFLIR has been the US Navy's primary targeting pod since it achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in 2003. It is also carried by legacy F/A-18 Hornets operated by Malaysia and Switzerland.
In 2008, ATFLIR was selected over Litening to equip the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) then-new Super Hornet fleet with targeting pods. At the time, it was the only certified targeting pod available for the Super Hornet and was the US Navy standard.
Through 2021 the RAAF also operated Litening pods in support of the F/A-18A/B Classic Hornet capability. Some pods were retained even after the Class Hornets were retired, with the RAAF testing them on C-130J transport aircraft.
In the 2024 Integrated Investment Plan (IIP), it was announced that the RAAF's fleet of Super Hornets would serve into the 2040s, enabled by a series of upgrades. While the details of that upgrade path are somewhat unclear, the RAAF has worked hard since 2008 to keep the Super Hornet fleet up to US Navy standards. Australian aircraft are part of the US Navy's spiral development program which delivers software and hardware upgrades every two years.