A Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet. (Photo: Boeing)
Lockheed Martin [LMT] has received a second low-rate production contract to provide the IRST21 infrared search-and-track sensor system for U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, the company said April 20.
The contract, awarded in December, calls for
the company to provide 12 IRST21 systems, double the number of the first contract, awarded in March 2015.
IRST21 is mounted in the nose of the F/A-18E/F’s centerline fuel tank to detect and track airborne threats in radar-denied environments.
It is the newest version of the legacy IRST sensor system, which has logged more than 300,000 flight hours on U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcats and international F-15s.