Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

So I noticed something I'd never seen before today... we get a lot of transient Hornets that park on the north end of the GA ramp here in Savannah. One D-model actually parked right in front of the building I work in; if I'd had time I would have gone out on the ramp and looked at it (from a safe distance, of course).

Anyways, I noticed that there was some kind of targeting pod on the centerline station. I'm not familiar with all of the ones out there, but I'm guessing it was a Litening. It was dark gray, with a rounded hemispherical front.

Does anyone have more information on this? I've only ever seen the pods that mound on the intake stations before.

Thanks!

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Did it look like this?

Indeed it did... I wasn't able to get that close or that far around towards the nose, but as best I could tell, that's what it was.

When did they start carrying those?

Around 2006ish operationally. They can also be carried on station 4 on the intake if a C/L tank is to be fitted.

Those things were bad enough to install on the right cheek of an F-16. I'd hate to have to put one on the centerline!

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

F-18D targeting pod