IRST is a long range sensor system that passively detects and tracks airborne threats in advanced electronic attack and heavy radio frequency/infrared countermeasure environments. Because IRST enhances survivability and lethality in both offensive and defensive counter-air roles, it is a powerful tool for achieving air superiority.
The high resolution characteristics of IRST provide dramatically improved raid cell count (40 times more accurate than radar) at maximum ranges – information that can stand alone or be fused with other sensor data to enhance situational awareness, ensuring first-to-see, first-to-shoot capability.
IRST is compact enough to mount in various locations, from a conformal fuselage mount to a pylon. It mounts in the nose section of the centerline fuel tank on the F/A-18E/F. Lockheed Martin, the Boeing Company, and the U.S. Air Force are developing an IRST pod for the F-15C which will be transportable across a wide range of platforms.
The new IRST sensor system is the next generation of the F-14D AN/AAS-42 IRST that accumulated over 200,000 flight hours aboard U.S. aircraft carriers.
IRST is a trademark of Lockheed Martin Corporation.
