Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

An aviation photographer continuely claims that during OIF - Shaw jets carried LANTIRN .. from what I heard from crew chiefs... along with Maj Hanford who flew with the 77FS and also Lt.Col. Dennis who commanded the 14FS - F-16CJs only carried the HTS pod. I haven't seen any pics of Shaw jets carrying them during OIF or anyone else claiming this. He also says his pilot escort told him he flew during OIF with the LANTIRN back in July.

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Blk 50 jets that have been CCIP'd can, do and have carried LANTIRN, Litening, or Sniper pods.

Hello Siesta,

As far as I am concerned the Shaw Vipers did "only " carry the AN/ASQ-213 HTS systsm during OIF, as their Vipers had not reveiced the CCIP-upgrade at the time. As Slimm says Shaw Vipers have/are carrying AAQ-14s, Litenings and Snipers after their CCIP-upgrade!!

Greetings,

Henrik.

That photographer was told this by a pilot that escorted him at Shaw and is only telling what he was told.I trust this photographer and hopefully we can find out form someone from Shaw if this was the case.

Racer.. I am a big fan of his photographs - but yes from what I know Shaw at that time only carried HTS pods - the Block 52s from SC ANG and Mountain Home carried the LANTIRN and LITENING pods. I'm looking forward to his Nellis trip.

Siesta

The Shaw jets did not carry LANTIRN during OIF in 2003. However, remember that since OIF is ongoing, it is possible that on a more recent AEF, CCIP'd Shaw jets could well have carried them.

The key to answering the question is to determine at which point during OIF the photographer is refering to.

Out of interest, who's the photog?

As far as I can recall - someone correct me if I am wrong - the 20FW has not deployed back to MiddleEast for OIF. I know that one of the squadrons went over there for an exercise but not for combat operations and from what I know the Block 50s from the 52FW last year and the 35FW now currently in theater were and are the first CJs to have deployed back there.

We only flew HTS during our OIF deployment, but now we frequently fly LANTIRN when we can get the things to work.

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As far as I can recall - someone correct me if I am wrong - the 20FW has not deployed back to MiddleEast for OIF.

Yeah, the 77th went. In fact 94-048 from the 77th was the jet that blew up that 1st Cav Apache that went down intact and then Al-Pravda showed the morons jumping all over it....until the F-16s arrived. They flew from PSAB. No LANTIRNs as far as I've evr seen, and no need for them, as the block 40 units were more than adequate.

Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

OIF Shaw and LANTIRN