Article Posted on : - Mar 24, 2010

Northrop Grumman's Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder. A Northrop Grumman Photo.

FLORIDA (BNS): US Army has awarded Northrop Grumman delivery order for 500 Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinders (LLDR) under a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract.

The contract is valued at $142.7 million.

LLDR accurately targets enemy positions during the day, at night and in nearly all battlefield conditions including haze, smoke, fog and rain. This lightweight, interoperable system also provides range finding and targeting information to other digital battlefield systems.

With the help of an eye-safe laser wavelength, the system recognises targets, finds the range to a target, and fixes target locations for laser-guided, GPS-guided, and conventional munitions

"The LLDR system has proven itself to be of tremendous benefit to our nation's warfighters," said Gordon Stewart, Northrop Grumman's Laser Systems vice president and general manager, according to a news release by the Northrop Grumman Corporation.

Northrop Grumman's Laser Systems business unit has earlier delivered and fielded more than 1,300 LLDR systems to U.S. military forces supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.