Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

Last edited by J.J. on Apr 12, 2008 - 05:59 PM; edited 2 times in total

UPDATED! Please note: After clarification by Henrik and crazyal611, on April 12, 2008, I renamed this topic from "New operational dual pod system - HTS and LITENING AT" to "New operational dual pod system - HTS and AN/AAQ-14 LANTIRN". Sorry for my initial error!

In "The Modern Viper Guide - The F-16C/D Exposed", on page 115 Jake Melampy wrote: "CCIP has introduced the ability to carry the HTS pod on station 5L (the left side of the intake station, shown at right) to allow simultaneous carriage of a targeting pod and an HTS pod. As this book goes to print, the dual pod system is just going operational with the 52FW at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, after several years of testing at Nellis and Eglin AFBs."

Related to that, on http://www.flugzeugforum.de I found some shots of this new simultaneous pod loadout. I already asked two spotters for their "green light" to post their pictures in this topic or for uploading to our F-16 Photo Gallery with their permissions. But sorry! I still await there decisions.

At least for the moment, please check their original pictures on http://www.flugzeugforum.de:

22nd FS Viper (Anybody who can/will identify this aircraft?): http://www.michael.nierth.de/wp/wp-cont ... g_4599.jpg

91-0358, 22nd FS: http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/attac ... 1207852507
91-0391, 22nd FS: http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/attac ... 1207852583
91-0406 (22nd FS): http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/attac ... 1207852738

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Newbie Joined: Mar 28, 2008 Posts: 2 Status: Offline

Looks more like a Lantirn TGP to me from the picture that i could see. Not very good at reading deutsch, it has been awhile. AD units use the Sniper and Lantirn and the Guard and Reserve use the Litening AT. Kinda cool though, now the blk 50/52 can truly be a SEAD hunter/killer!

that is a targeting pod on the right, i was there at the tail end of all the upgrades. the HTS and TGP together was very cool to see.

Does CCIP stand for something other than constantly computed impact point?

vegasdave901 wrote:

Does CCIP stand for something other than constantly computed impact point?

CCIP=common configuration implementation program. It's a upgrade program concerning about 650 F 16 blks. 40/42 and 50/52. Upgraded consist in bringing radars to APG 68 V9, Link 16 datalink, new processors, color LCD, JHMCS/AIM 9X, smart weapons wiring, targeting pods, etc.

I caught Misawa carrying that config at Red flag Alaska yesterday.....they were also carrying 9 X-rays on a some jets. The pods were a mix of sniper and LITENING.

In the topic "Spangdahlem (ETAD) aktuell 2008" on FlugzeugForum.de, yesterday I asked for older shots of this dual pod system. Today, another spotter replied with posting of the following pics (according to him, at least the first shot was already taken on May 25, 2007):

Unknown aircraft: http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/attac ... 1207894242
F-16D 91-0464, 22nd FS: http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/attac ... 1207894317

Hello all,

The Spang Vipers have been / are using the AAQ-14 LANTIRN and AAQ-33 Sniper target pods on their Block-50s in addition to the ASQ-213 HTS system.

J.J., the unidentified Viper on the photo by Michael Nierth looks like 90-0831 to me.

Greetings,

Henrik.

Sorry, Henrik! But are you really sure with the AN/AAQ-14 LANTIRN targeting pod? At least in my eyes, the two 2007 shots, just linked from FlugzeugForum.de, are showing the longer and bigger LITENING AT pod. Please also check Jake Melampy´s words in "The Modern Viper Guide" (page 112): "The targeting pod [Jake means AN/AAQ-14 - J.J.] has also largely been replaced in combat units by the LITENING and Sniper pods, although it is still occasionally used by units at their home station for recurrent targeting pod training. It was last used in combat during the early phases of OIF in March 2003 [that means the main combat phase of OIF - J.J.] by the Block 50 units that had completed the CCIP program."

Since yesterday, I´m very busy to search Google for related online info. I already got some important additional info, but please wait! At first: In their "USAF Almanac", section "Gallery of USAF Weapons", "Air Force Magazine" (May 2007 online issue) wrote: "The Block 50/52 aircraft have dual/alternate carriage of HARM targeting system (HTS) and Smart Targeting and Identification via Networked Geolocation (STING) and advanced targeting pods (ATP)." And related to that, the older AAQ-14 is definite NOT an advanced targeting pod! USAF is only talking about LITENING AT (or LITENING II) and Sniper XR pods alongside HTS. We already saw some OIF combat pictures of F-16CJs with Sniper XR. But because in Iraq there´s no more any SAM-threat, after OIF´s main combat phase we never saw any deployed F-16CJs with HTS pods. So I hope I can hook up you tomorrow!

j.j.

the reason we are saying it looks like and probably is a LANTIRN on the spang aircraft is that the Litening is a guard and reserve program. it was phased into the Active units for the war and a little bit afterwards while problems with reliability, funding, supply were worked out for Sniper. once those issues were overcome, the DoAF started returning the Litening AT back to northrop grumman for modification then on back to guard and reserve a-10, f-16, and b-52 units. some of the Guard and reserve got sniper to spin up with back in 2006 (RMC to korea) while the Litening was the norm in the AOR. but now that the sniper is on track and funded with AD money, AD has Sniper and Guard, Reserve have Litening. Now as far as LANTIRN, since it is was mostly used with AD units, save a few guard units, they have the majority of those pods and it shares a few features with the Sniper. with the number of Litening pods purchased already, the guard and reserve would rather not worry about LANTIRN TGP's anymore. Also, the LANTIRN TGP is longer then the Litening, but not as big around. the ECS intake is also angled on the LANTIRN, but not on the Litening.

Henrik wrote

Quote:

Hello all,

The Spang Vipers have been / are using the AAQ-14 LANTIRN and AAQ-33 Sniper target pods on their Block-50s in addition to the ASQ-213 HTS system.

yeah, i got out my german books from high school and got logged into that forum and oh yeah those are definately Lantirn pods. i have put enough on to tell. the nose of the pod sticks out father then the Litening and the ecs intake is farther up the tube then the litening. and you are right j.j., the AAQ-14 is not an advanced targeting pod, but it still a good training tool. the priority for Sniper is in the desert. the units might have a few snipers at home to train with but they also have alot more of the Lantirn TGP's also.

Thanks Mark for Your reply and clafifying the LANTIRNs!!

J.J. - old buddy, the only active-overseas Block-50 unit ever to have flown with Litenings on their planes is the 35th FW at Misawa AB, Japan! All other active Block-50/52 units have flown with AAQ-14s and have recently begun to fly Snipers. The 20th FW from Shaw AFB, SC are curreitnly deployed to Nellis AFB, NV in support of the Weapons School and only a few of their block-50s have the Sniper along - the rest still rely on AAQ-14s.

The SC ANG has in the past flown witn Litenings - especially during the OIF main combat phase. They now use Snipers, as wel.

One reason for the ANG to pass along their Snipers from the units in New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Iowa was the fact that the Snipers will primarily assigned to Active assets (F-15E, F-16 and A/OA-10 units) and Litenings will be in the ANG and AFRC (A/OA-10, B-52 and F-16) - just as Mark says above.

Three F-16 units in the ANG, however, still fly Snipers - the DC, NY and SC ANG units.

Greetings,

Henrik.

91-414 on mission w/ TX and Luke Vipers 4/6/2006

Hi,
I did a quick search on my pictures taken at SPAB but did not find any good ones referring to the loadout.
I can add a pic of SP F-16 w/Sniper. Pictures are taken April 13th and June 13th 2006.
Greetings
Michael

Special thanks for clarification, Henrik and crazyal611! Thumb

And thanks God it´s impossible to mix up the Sniper XR. Wink

In this case, AN-AAQ-14 LANTIRN at Spang is only in use for training and possibly also for exercises.

Thanks to Michael_HHN for sharing his pictures!

Spang when I was in Balad had both HTS and Sniper XR pods.