Using infrared lasers and global positioning, the Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared System for Night Targeting is transforming the aging Tomcats of Fighter Squadron 154 attached to USS Independence (CV 62), into the most advanced and deadliest aircraft in the Navy.
The Black Knights recently retrofitted their F-14 Tomcats with this new targeting system which will change the squadron's mission and bring new deterrence capabilities to Carrier Air Wing Five.
This advanced LANTIRN system expands VF-154's mission by including the ability to bomb with pinpoint accuracy.
The squadron's first flight with LANTIRN recently took place with Cmdr. Drew Brugal, commanding officer VF-154, piloting the F-14, and Capt. Dick Mauldin, Commander, Carrier Air Wing Five, operating the new system.
"It is a fantastic system and very easy to operate," said Mauldin expressing his delight with the targeting system after its first flight. "It is really a piece of cake to operate."
Because of the F-14's ability to carry heavier loads and fly further then F/A-18s, the new system brings an extended range and more precise striking capability to the air wing.
Ten F-14s will be configured with the LANTIRN system providing a 30 percent increase in the precision weapon delivery capability of Carrier Air Wing Five according to Mauldin.
"It is a completely independent targeting system that locates, designates, and tracks the target," said Robert P. Carnegie, senior engineer for Lockheed Martin's LANTIRN project. The system has a maximum range of approximately 13 nautical miles, seeing twice as for as what the F/A-18s are currently using for their night-vision targeting system.
"We are able to pick out a single target in a large area and put a bomb on that target," Brugal said as he described one significant capability the system brings to the Black Knights.
LANTIRN provides an F-14 with the capability to detect and acquire targets using infrared vision. It then delivers laser guided bombs accurately onto those same targets during day or night missions.
"We are really excited about getting the LANTIRN system here at CVW-5," Mauldin said. He went on to say that the Navy's senior leadership is serious about outfitting the forward deployed forces with "the best system the Navy has to offer."
Because CVW-5 is forward deployed, the Black Knights will have the LANTIRN system permanently. This arrangement is unique to VF-154, the only forward deployed F-14 squadron in the Pacific.
Other F-14 squadrons in Naval Air Station Oceana Va., receive the system just prior to going on a deployment. Following the completion of their six month at sea period, the system is removed and installed on the next deploying squadron's aircraft.
For the Black Knights of VF-154 this new technology means a leaner, meaner fighting machine capable of meeting the needs of the Navy into the next century.
Photo 1: PH1(AW) Eric D. Schwab, TARPS work center supervisor for pod on an F-14.
Photo 2: Cmdr. Drew Brugal, VF-154 Commanding Officer and Capt. Dick Mauldin, Commander CVW-5 discuss the LANTIRN with Robert Carnegie, Lockheed Martin's senior engineer for the LANTIRN project.
Both photos by: Ensign David Hanselman