System Normally Deployed On Fighters
The B-1B Lancer maintainers at Oklahoma's Tinker Air Force Base
adapted a video targeting pod normally employed on F-15 Eagles and
F-16 Fighting Falcons to B-1Bs in response to an urgent request
from US Air Forces Central officials.
The sniper pod enables aircrews to positively identify and
engage enemy targets, significantly shortening the time it would
take to kill a target. It was first deployed in actual combat
conditions over Southeast Asia in early August,
as ANN reported.
The B-1B community at Tinker Air Force Base used the B-1B Laptop
Controlled Targeting Pod program, adapting the sniper pod to the
B-1B by installing an external pylon and using an existing on-board
laptop computer to control the pod and provide video image to the
crew on board.
The new system allows aircrews to look ahead with long-range
video and see what is happening on the ground. It is a stabilized
image and allows them to use a laser beam to target and engage in
real time. It also allows aircrews to give their own bomb damage
assessment and report back immediately on whether they hit their
target or not.
The pod shortens the kill chain from several minutes to almost
instantly, said 2nd Lt. Douglas Richardson, a B-1B avionics
engineer with the 427th Aircraft Sustainment Group.
"That's a great capability, especially in Afghanistan where
we're having troops in close contact," Lieutenant Richardson said.
"They can call the B-1B and the B-1B can see exactly what's going
on and target the enemy forces in seconds."
Before the integration of the sniper pod, crews had used high
resolution radar which is perfect for buildings but doesn't see a
lot of "soft" images. With the new pod, aircrews can now see
exactly what's going on and can see things more clearly.
Since it was a new developmental program for the B-1B, the
Laptop Controlled Targeting Pod program was managed by Ed England
of the 812th Aeronautical System Group at the Aeronautical System
Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Officials of the 812th AESG
are responsible for managing all new B-1B development programs. The
427th ACSG members helped when requested to get the pod fielded on
time to support the recent deployment of aircraft from one of the
B-1B main operating bases to a forward operating location.
"In 24 months this machine was fielded and developed for the
B-1B and we just had the first combat use recently," Lieutenant
Richardson said. "The use of the pod was deemed very
successful."