lockmart made a new version of the most popular FLIR + laser targeting pod used by 4th gen fighters. the new version - Sniper Networked Targeting Pod - adds edge computing, MANET, and F35 datalink. so now 5th gen should be able to seamlessly interact with other aircraft and ground elements on one datalink. call in hypersonic airstrikes from the comfort of your foxhole. https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2024-07-23-sniper-networked-targeting-pod-to-link-f-35s-4th-generation-jets-and-missile-systems-for-unprecedented-deterrence
spoonfeed
>>62148644>call in hypersonic airstrikes from the comfort of your foxhole.As an infantry grunt I approve of this development
this is very dry subject matter but maybe a bump or three will expose the thread to a couple people who realize the significance. the "f22 and f35 can't talk to x" problem has been a source of angst for many years.at any rate, still gotta add the new info about mako disclosed the other day.
this pic explains so much about your product, lockmart, up to and including>is the thing even in the pic?thank you
>>62150431Hasn't Raptor had the underlying problem of no Link 16 integration? Or did they finally make that upgrade?
>>62150431>>62150448How can West still be scared of China/Russia when their military is some backwater mess compared to just a single US company in the MIC?
>>62151193The boomers and Gen X grew up on pic related, and when it imploded, they thought it there would be a new world order of forever-peace so China didn't matter.
>>62150454Both do. The stealthies operate their own proprietary datalinks and there have been a few rounds of kludge-transcoder-middleware concepts to provide bridging.At one point not too long ago, the middleware was literally a box carried by a U-2 that handled interactions between F-22's IFDL and F-35's MADL. At that time – and right up til the retirement announcement this year – the U-2 was the primary dev&testing platform for Open Mission Systems. It was the first craft to fly a full suite of OMS shit, and one of the arguments in favor of keeping it in service was to continue as a test platform.The U-2 team, in turn, had The Box (hydra OSG) talk to land and sea systems via multifarious other acronyms.What the sniper pod iteration represents is lockmart trying to consolidate the man-in-the-middle widgetry under a preexisting product line already in use by everyone who flies F-16 and F-35. Commoditizing the complement, in so many words.(Northrop leads Link 16 development, IBCS, and a bunch of other datalink shit. Physically colocating the hell-muxer onboard lockmart aircraft marginalizes northrop while ensuring they still do most of the real work.)I see no obvious reason why it won't work.
>>62151193Can't get complacent
>>62151254>1986Realistically they had already lost by then
Mako video with a better look at the missile bodyhttps://youtu.be/QNfwNsa55ysOther shithttps://lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2024/mako-a-hypersonic-missile-thats-more-than-ready.html>Mako has been fit-checked on a variety of aircraft, including the F-22, F-35, F/A-18, F-16, F-15 and P-8.
>>62148644>mako missileIs that the air launched hypersanic missile?
People are being scammed by LM marketing pretending that the US is fielding Mako — it’s not. No branch of the US military is acquiring it, it’s not in production nor even a real weapon system yet.
>>62153939Ja. It's the one they want to load up on any and all compatibly datalinked aircraft, thus the whole angle with this sniper pod business.
>>62153947The marketing over the past week has explicitly been toward international markets, including the possibility of getting into production in the UK as part of the bongs' hypersonic program. Say stuff when you know stuff. Don't when you don't.
>>62153947I'm sure the Taiwanese and Japanese would love to buy these.
