ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 12, 2015 – Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin introduced Legion Pod – a multi-function sensor system that supports collaborative targeting operations between multiple aircraft in radar-denied environments.

Combining Lockheed Martin’s IRST21™ infrared sensor with advanced networking and data processing technology, Legion Pod provides high-fidelity detection and tracking of airborne targets. Designed for flexibility, Legion Pod also accommodates additional sensors within its current structure to address diverse mission requirements across a variety of platforms.

“Legion Pod fills a critical need for today’s warfighters, providing unique detection and tracking data for joint targeting operations,” said Ken Fuhr, director of fixed wing programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “As a flexible, production-ready system, Legion Pod can be quickly procured and integrated to meet current and emerging customer requirements.”

Legion Pod is available to support the current F-15C infrared search and track program of record, which requires long-range detection and tracking in a wide field of view. Due to its flexible design, Legion Pod also supports the emerging Multi-Domain Adaptable Processing System and offers advanced capability for a variety of platforms, including non-fighter aircraft.

Lockheed Martin developed Legion Pod through internal investment, and pod components have completed limited qualification. Initial flight tests will occur this year, with additional flight tests planned for 2016.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 112,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2014 were $45.6 billion.

Orlando, Fla., and ST. LOUIS, Mo., Jan. 22, 2014 – Lockheed Martin

Long-range sensor system demonstrated production readiness on Super Hornet

The F/A-18 Super Hornet infrared search and track (IRST) system, developed and integrated by Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], received approval from the U.S. Navy to enter low-rate initial production.     

The IRST system consists of Lockheed Martin’s IRST21™ sensor, the GE Aviation FPU-13 Fuel Tank Assembly and the Meggitt Defense Industry Environmental Control unit. The system demonstrated its production readiness through a series of extensive assessments and reviews, including flight tests.   

“This ‘see first, strike first’ capability can be used in a variety of threat environments and is a game changer for our warfighters as we combat future adversaries,” said U.S. Navy F/A-18 program manager Capt. Frank Morley. IRST is expected to deploy on the F/A-18 Super Hornet in 2017.

IRST21 is the next generation of Lockheed Martin’s legacy IRST sensor system, which accumulated more than 300,000 flight hours on the U.S. Navy’s F-14 and international F-15 platforms.  The long-range IRST21 sensor uses infrared search and track technology to detect, track and enable the Super Hornet to engage threats with air-to-air weapons.

“Lockheed Martin and Boeing have proven the maturity of the IRST21 sensor and the IRST system and are poised to get this advanced capability out to the fleet to support Navy carrier strike group objectives,” said Ken Fuhr, fixed wing program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

In addition to detecting airborne threats, IRST significantly enhances multiple target resolution compared to radar, providing greater discrimination of threat formations at longer ranges. Data from the IRST21 sensor is fused with other on-board F/A-18 sensor data to provide maximum situational awareness to the warfighter.

“The IRST system is another example of how we continue to evolve Super Hornet capabilities to ensure it outpaces future adversaries,” said Tim Adrian, F/A-18 IRST program manager at Boeing.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2013 were $45.4 billion.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $33 billion business with 56,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense

March 15, 2014: Strategy Page

On February 11th the U.S. Navy had its first flight test of a new IRST (Infa-Red Search & Track) pod. IRST uses a high resolution infrared (heat sensing) radar to positively spot and identify a potential aerial target This is done by comparing what IRST sees to 3-D models of known aircraft stored in the pod computer. This is similar to the ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared) pods used to spot surface targets.

FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared Radar) has been around since the 1980s, and as the technology became more powerful, it was possible to spot and identify targets at longer ranges. The ATFLIR can identify ground targets from 20 kilometers away, and the latest IRST systems have an even longer range. It eventually became possible to use FLIR, in the form of IRST, as a sensor for spotting aircraft. This was a big advantage because FLIR is passive. It doesn't broadcast, like normal radar, thus the target cannot detect those radar transmissions, and be alerted that it is being "painted" by a hostile radar.

The navy is playing catch-up by equipping some of its F-18E fighters with the new generation of IRST. Russian and European fighters (MiG-29, Su-30, Eurofighter, Rafale) have long had IRST. For the Russians, this was seen as a way to deal with stealthy American aircraft. The U.S. stealth warplanes were built to defeat radar. But these stealthy aircraft still gave off heat and IRST works by seeking out heat. The navy already has some aircraft equipped with an IRST pod based on the technology used in the older F-14D IRST. But newer IRST technology is pitched as being much more effective, giving warnings (that something is out there) at long range (several hundred kilometers). The new generation IRST is also able to spot targets on the ground or at sea.

The U.S. Air Force is not as enthusiastic about IRST. In 2011, as an economy move, and because of unspecified "technical problems", the U.S. Air Force dropped all efforts to equip any of its F-15C fighters with IRST. This includes an effort, begun in 2009, to equip a hundred F-15Cs with heat sensing pods once used to equip navy F-14Ds (which were retired in 2006). The refurbished navy IRST pods would have enabled the F-15s to detect and track aircraft, over a hundred kilometers away, from the heat the target aircraft give off. IRST is a passive (it does not broadcast) sensor, thus it is undetectable by the enemy.

IRST has its limitations. The main ones are range (usually about 30 kilometers for accurate detection but much farther for "something is there") and problems with clouds distorting the heat signature of the target. The short range means that another aircraft using its radar (which has a range of over 100 kilometers for precise identification) has an obvious edge. The distortion problems are slowly being solved by improved computer analysis of the detected image. Since many warplanes like to operate "quiet" (without any electronic transmissions), IRST becomes the best way to spot the other guy and open fire first. At longer ranges IRST gives pretty vague data. Still, it's believed that just having an indication that someone is out there, more than a hundred kilometers away, gives you an edge.

The F-18E IRST will be mounted in a modified centerline drop tank, which will contain the IRST as well as 68 percent of the usual fuel. One problem with this approach is that the F-18E can't jettison this drop tank, to make itself more maneuverable for air-to-air combat. Other aircraft, like the F-22 and F-35, have the IRST built into the fuselage. American manufacturers have added IRST to F-15Es exported to South Korea and Singapore.

Pilots have already found that they could use their targeting pods for spotting aircraft, which prompted air forces to hustle up the equipping of more aircraft with IRST (which, while designed especially to spot other aircraft, can also be used to detect surface, land or sea, targets.) The air force has not given up on IRST, it is just not as eager to buy the new and improved IRST as the navy.