Northrop Grumman’s defensive systems division has delivered the first of a new generation of Plug and Play II video datalinks for use with the Litening AT and Litening G4 targeting pods.

The contract is being administered by the U.S. Air Force’s Precision Attack Targeting Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and covers 240 datalink sets due for delivery over the next 18 months. The first recipient is the U.S. Marine Corps, which employs Litening pods on its AV-8B Harrier IIs. Other Litening users set to receive the link under the contract are fellow Harrier-operators Italy and Spain, and the air forces of the U.S., Australia and the Netherlands.

Introduced in 2003, NG’s Plug and Play I was the first datalink to be integrated into a third-generation targeting pod.

The new Plug and Play II offers increased range, the latest digital recording facility, and the ability to incorporate a secure, two-way UHF communications link.