Rafael adds SAR capabilities to Litening-5 for missions above the cloud
Rafael’s Litening Pod was a technological breakthrough for surveillance missions but bad weather above the clouds is still a challenge. Rafael has developed new, advanced technology to address this too.…
Rafael’s Litening Pod was a technological breakthrough for surveillance missions but bad weather above the clouds is still a challenge. Rafael has developed new, advanced technology to address this too.
At Paris Air Show, Rafael showed an advanced version of its Litening-5, which includes synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology.
Adding SAR
Gideon Weiss, Deputy General Manager Business Development & Marketing Air & C4ISR systems division, Rafael, said: “We’re taking the same advanced electro-optic capabilities that we have and we have added, with an additional space in the pod, a unit with an antenna on the starboard side to enable synthetic aperture radar in tandem with the electro-optics, so that solves the problem of operations above the cloud.”
He explained: “Today, if one needs to operate above the clouds, pilots would have to equip their aircraft with a dedicated synthetic aperture radar capability, whether it is integrated or in a pod. What we’re offering now is a pod that they’re already used to operating with the electro-optics.
“And now they have the added capability of the synthetic aperture radar.”
Weiss added: “Our customers have shown us they need to be able to operate 24/7, including when the weather is bad…and it’s very cost effective because it’s in one pod.”
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