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1 hour ago, airmechaja said:

Okay. I'll ask the question in another way...............what are the pod's that are necessary for GBU 31's? They might be autonomous.

 

The GBU-31 is not "autonomous" in the true sense of the word (i.e. it will not acquire and find a target on its own), but I think you meant "independent of the carrier aircraft once programmed". This is true, of course. If the crew is only attacking a target whose GPS coordinates have been predefined; then in theory the carrier aircraft does not need a pod. The crew just programs the JDAM with the predefined coordinates, and drops them.

 

In reality, though, there are many usage modes where the crew might want to attack a target of opportunity, or a target  whose GPS coordinates are not known. The crew might get a desperate call from a bunch of troops on the ground who just need a JDAM dropped on the jihadi position firing at them, but have no idea what its coordinates are. In a case like this, the crew may  rely on the targeting pod to visually acquire a target and compute its GPS coordinates. The pod knows the GPS coordinates of the aircraft at all times, it also knows the relative position of the target and can compute the target's coordinates easily.

 

I have a hunch that the aircraft might not need a pod to calculate the GPS coordinates (i.e. the aircraft's own CCRP/CCIP bombing mode can program the JDAM as well), but a stabilized/night-vision capable pod is nice to have. 

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They aren’t absolutey needed, however:

 

1) As shown in the photo above, many times a mixed load is carried.  The GBU-12s loaded on the left CFT would have used the SNIPER pod.

2). The pod can still be used to visually identify targets since it has magnified and stabilized optics and provide video to monitor the attack and perform BDA.

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There is a GPS "Dot" antenna on the shoulder of the F-15E that receives the GPS coordinates from the satellite constellation as well. It is this that feeds the targeting information from the computers into the bombs themselves. The newer Sniper pods do have GPS capabilities, but the original Snipers did not.   

 

Aaron 

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Hi,

 

Many years of watching and photographing the 48th at Lakenheath and I've probably seen them operate without first the LANTIRN and now SNIPER pod(s) perhaps half a dozen times, and that's always been done completely clean, no tanks, pylons or even CFT's. They always look fresh out of the paint shop when seen in that condition. All normal training sorties, let alone actual combat flights always carry the twin pods.

 

Gary

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16 hours ago, Niels said:

F-15E always flies with the targeting pod

 

7 hours ago, gary1701 said:

 

Hi,

 

Many years of watching and photographing the 48th at Lakenheath and I've probably seen them operate without first the LANTIRN and now SNIPER pod(s) perhaps half a dozen times, and that's always been done completely clean, no tanks, pylons or even CFT's. They always look fresh out of the paint shop when seen in that condition. All normal training sorties, let alone actual combat flights always carry the twin pods.

 

Gary

This ⬆️  The F-15E flies with pods.  

 

What Gary is talking about occurs after extensive phase maintenance is done and the aircraft is given an Operational or Function Check Flight before returning to the regular flying schedule.  

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On 2/14/2019 at 11:46 PM, Falconxlvi said:

 

This ⬆️  The F-15E flies with pods.  

 

What Gary is talking about occurs after extensive phase maintenance is done and the aircraft is given an Operational or Function Check Flight before returning to the regular flying schedule.  

 

 

During the BFM portion of a "B-course", the jet is configured clean except the CATM-9/120.

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5 hours ago, dmk0210 said:

Is that a Fighter Weapons School thing, or something the squadrons would fly on their own?

 

 

 

The B-course is the "basic" course for pilots and WSO's new to the jet.  During the first few weeks of training, we would config for strictly A/A before SA (surface attack) would start.  99.9% of the time Strikes in the standard combat "gun" squadrons would always carry pods.  The FTU's would config for A/A w/out pods at the start of every course.

 

In the 9 years I was at SJ, the 335th and 336th configured clean maybe once that I can remember. 

 

But normal ops is w/pods.

 

Edited by BoeingDriver
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On 2/18/2019 at 9:46 AM, BoeingDriver said:

 

 

During the BFM portion of a "B-course", the jet is configured clean except the CATM-9/120.

That’s a new one to me.  🤷‍♂️🤔

We weren’t doing that in the Lancers or Eagles from 2014-16

 

(Edit- I may have stepped to a jet without pods for BFM a few times, now that I think about it, but it was much more the “norm” during this timeframe to have a jet with pods, even during BFM.  We would brief and execute real time target exercises using AG Radar and the Pod to practice with the upgrading WSOs on the way back from the airspace during the BFM phase.)

Edited by Falconxlvi
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27 minutes ago, Falconxlvi said:

That’s a new one to me.  🤷‍♂️🤔

We weren’t doing that in the Lancers or Eagles from 2014-16

 

(Edit- I may have stepped to a jet without pods for BFM a few times, now that I think about it, but it was much more the “norm” during this timeframe to have a jet with pods, even during BFM.  We would brief and execute real time target exercises using AG Radar and the Pod to practice with the upgrading WSOs on the way back from the airspace during the BFM phase.)

 

Things may have changed since my time 94-03.  When I left, we were still configing like that for the BFM portion of the syllabus.

 

 

 

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13 hours ago, BoeingDriver said:

 

The B-course is the "basic" course for pilots and WSO's new to the jet.  During the first few weeks of training, we would config for strictly A/A before SA (surface attack) would start.  99.9% of the time Strikes in the standard combat "gun" squadrons would always carry pods.  The FTU's would config for A/A w/out pods at the start of every course.

 

In the 9 years I was at SJ, the 335th and 336th configured clean maybe once that I can remember. 

 

But normal ops is w/pods.

 

Thanks for the explanation BoeingDriver.  

 

 Did you ever do any practice runs in the mountains at the west end of the state when you were flying the Eagle?  About 10 years ago, we had one doing practice runs on our college campus. There was a whole crowd of us outside watching the free airshow. You could clearly see the SJ on the tail.  They made about a dozen runs from different directions that looked like they were targeting a building at the center of campus.

 

 I just got this one sucky pic from a cell phone.

 

2dsrerl.jpg

Edited by dmk0210
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10 hours ago, dmk0210 said:

Thanks for the explanation BoeingDriver.  

 

 Did you ever do any practice runs in the mountains at the west end of the state when you were flying the Eagle?  About 10 years ago, we had one doing practice runs on our college campus. There was a whole crowd of us outside watching the free airshow. You could clearly see the SJ on the tail.  They made about a dozen runs from different directions that looked like they were targeting a building at the center of campus.

 

 I just got this one sucky pic from a cell phone.

 

 

 

I didn't fly the Eagle, I maintained her.  But fortunately, I got a couple rides in the jet and one of them was along the low-level routes in the western part of the state.  I have my HUD video of us climbing over the knob on Pilot Mountain (Mt Pilot for you Mayberry folks).  So yes, there are a couple of low-level routes that snake that way just west of Raleigh and Greensboro. 

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Nice. That sounds like a blast.

 

I'm all the way out on the very west tend of the state. Very mountainous and very rural. We get some cool stuff flying out here. Mostly helos, but occasionally fast jets too. I've seen the SCANG Swamp Fox flying their vipers through here a few times. 

 

I was zipping through the back roads in a valley one day and had a C-130 roar right over me, very low. That was impressive, especially since I have a convertible.

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