AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING Pod

Eduard BRASSIN, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Eduard's 1/72 scale Litening Pod set is available online from Squadron.com

The AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING targeting pod is an Israeli-designed precision targeting pod system currently operational with a wide variety of combat aircraft. LITENING significantly increases the combat effectiveness of the aircraft during day, night and under-the-weather conditions in the attack of ground and air targets with a variety of standoff weapons (i.e., laser-guided bombs, conventional bombs and GPS-guided weapons).

LITENING is an integrated targeting pod that mounts externally to the aircraft. The targeting pod contains a high-resolution, forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor that displays an infrared image of the target to the aircrew; it has a wide field of view search capability and a narrow field of view acquisition/targeting capability of battlefield-sized targets. The pod also contains a CCD camera used to obtain target imagery in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. An on-gimbal inertial navigation sensor establishes line-of-sight and automatic bore-sighting capability.

The pod is equipped with a laser designator for precise delivery of laser-guided munitions. A laser rangefinder provides information for various avionics systems, for example, navigation updates, weapon deliveries and target updates. The targeting pod includes an automatic target tracker to provide fully automatic stabilized target tracking at altitudes, airspeeds and slant ranges consistent with tactical weapon delivery maneuvers. These features simplify the functions of target detection and recognition, and permit attack of targets with precision-guided weapons on a single pass.

Source: Wikepedia

The pod comes attractively packaged in a blister pack with sponge cushioning.

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Very clear instructions are included, with colour call-outs cross-referenced to the Gunze Aqueous and Mr Color paint ranges. A PDF copy of the instructions is downloadable from Eduard’s website.

The quality of casting is excellent, with easily removed casing blocks, and of course, the PE is perfectly produced too.

A small sheet of decals provides the markings.

Painted and decaled, this LITENNG pod should be an excellent addition to any suitable model; it is sure to be a vast improvement over any injected kit item, although many kits lack this item anyway.

Eduard offer a very similar 1/48 scale LITENING Pod, reviewed here on HyperScale by David Harmer in June this year.

Eduard’s LITNENING pod is very nicely rendered. It offers an excellent detail refinement opportunity compared to injection moulded items (when supplied) for a wide range of subjects. I definitely recommended it.

Thanks to Eduard for the samples and images.

Review Text Copyright © 2016 by Mark Davies
Page Created 1 September, 2016
Last updated 1 September, 2016

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