Targeting pods (TGP) are target designation tools used by

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pre ...

for identifying targets and guiding

precision-guided munition A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gul ...

(PGM) such as

laser-guided bomb A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly p ...

s to those targets. The first targeting pods were developed in conjunction with the earliest generation of PGMs in the mid-1960s.

Categories

Laser designators

The design of laser-guided bombs requires a "laser spot tracker" that locates reflected pulsed laser light from a designated target. This enables an aircraft's targeting system to home in on that specific target. The simplest spot trackers, such as the

Pave Penny The Lockheed Martin AN/AAS-35(V) Pave Penny is a laser spot tracker carried by US Air Force attack aircraft and fighter-bombers to enable them to track a laser spot on the ground. It is a receiver only, allowing the pilot to see which targets ma ...

pod, have no laser at all, just a laser sensor. Some targeting systems incorporate a

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

, a laser beam that can calculate the precise range to a target and communicate that information to the

nav/attack system A nav/attack system (short for navigation/attack system) is an integrated suite of sensors and navigation equipment that allows a military aircraft to locate and attack specific ground targets or conduct aerial reconnaissance with a high degree of ...

. Many targeting pods or installations use the same sensor as the laser spot tracker to receive the reflected rangefinder signal, so they can perform both ranging and tracking. These are called laser ranger and marked target seeker (LRMTS). Some targeting systems have a laser that can designate a target for laser-guided munitions, enabling the aircraft to designate its own targets or designate for other friendly units. LRMTS installations (particularly fixed internal units) of the 1970s often did not have a laser of sufficient power and slant range to designate targets, although they could provide rangefinding. Such units required targets to be designated by a ground designator or

forward air control Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...

ler in another aircraft.

Electro-optics

The basic

electro-optical Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...

(EO) sensor is essentially a

closed-circuit television camera A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose o ...

, usually with a magnification lens, helping the aircrew to locate and identify targets. For night and adverse weather use, many EO sensors incorporate low-light light-amplification systems. Some pods supplement the basic visual EO with forward-looking infra-red (

FLIR Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...

) to aid in locating and identifying targets in darkness. Such systems are sometimes called

infrared search and track An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. ...

sensors. Aselpod is one of the example of such systems produced by the Aselsan.

Radar

Some pods may contain a small radar set for targeting and navigation, particularly for aircraft that have no search radar. Such a system, for example, was developed for the unsuccessful N/AW (Night/Adverse Weather) version of the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 1976, it is named for the Republic ...

. Currently, laser and infrared systems are more common than radar because they are less easily detected by adversaries, providing less warning to the target. Lasers can also provide more accurate ranging data for aerial gunnery.

List of targeting pods

Laser spot tracker pods

F-4D 13th TFS 432nd TRW with Pave Sword laser 1971

* AN/AVQ-11 Pave Sword * AN/AVQ-14 Pave Arrow * AN/AAS-35(V) Pave Penny

Laser designator pods

* ATLIS *

ATLIS II The Thomson-CSF ATLIS II (Automatic Tracking and Laser Integration System) is a French laser/electro-optical targeting pod for fighter bomber and attack aircraft. ATLIS was developed starting in 1976, entering service in 1980. It was developed fo ...

* K/PZS-01 * Loong Eye I * Loong Eye II * OC2 * OC5 * AN/AVQ-10 Pave Knife * AN/AVQ-16 Pave Track * AN/AVQ-23 Pave Spike * AN/ASQ-153 Pave Spike

FLIR pods

Blue Sky navigation pod Blue Sky is a combined airborne navigation and targeting pod system for Chinese military aircraft. It is designed to provide aircraft with all-weather/night-attack capabilities. It is the Chinese equivalent of the United States Air Force LANTIRN s ...

FLIR and laser designator pods

* AN/ASQ-137 *

AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR The AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) is a multi-sensor, electro-optical targeting pod incorporating thermographic camera, low-light television camera, target laser rangefinder/laser designator, and laser spot track ...

* ASELPOD * AUEODS *

FILAT FILAT (Forward-looking Infrared and Laser Attack Targeting) pod is an airborne targeting pod designed to provide aircraft with all weather / night attack capabilities. It was first revealed to the public at 1998 Zhuhai Air Show, and it is designed ...

* K/JDC-01 * AN/AAQ-14 LANTIRN * AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING * AN/AAS-38 Nite Hawk * AN/AAQ-33 Sniper XR * AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack *

PDLCT The PDLCT (for ''Pod de désignation laser caméra thermique'', "thermic camera-mounted laser designation pod") is a french targeting pod build for Thomson-CSF Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufactu ...

STS-55 STS-55, or Deutschland 2 (D-2), was the 55th overall flight of the NASA Space Shuttle and the 14th flight of Shuttle '' Columbia''. This flight was a multinational Spacelab flight involving 88 experiments from eleven different nations. The expe ...

STS-56 STS-56 was a NASA Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' mission to perform special experiments. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 8, 1993. Crew Mission highlights The primary payload of the flight was the Atm ...

* Thales Damoclès *

Thales TALIOS Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded h ...

TIALD The Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator (TIALD) was a targeting pod manufactured by Ferranti/ GEC Marconi in the late 1980s and 1990s, and was the UK's primary laser designator for its Paveway series of laser-guided bombs (LGBs). History T ...

* TX-S55 * TX-S56 * WMD-7 * UOMZ Sapsan-E * T220/E * YINGS-III * T220

Radar homing pods

AN/ASQ-213 The AN/ASQ-213 HARM targeting system is a targeting pod mounted to the side of an F-16 aircraft that enables the aircraft to track the location of hostile radar systems that can then be engaged with AGM-88 HARM The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-R ...

References

External links

{{Commons category inline, Targeting pods Targeting (warfare)