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Again as a follow-up, how easy is it to find a LITENING pod and adapter for the side of the inlet for an F-16 in 1/48 and where would I look? I want to do a Colorado ANG plane and I know they often mount the LITENING pod there. (as well as LANTIRN and Sniper pods)

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Again as a follow-up, how easy is it to find a LITENING pod and adapter for the side of the inlet for an F-16 in 1/48 and where would I look? I want to do a Colorado ANG plane and I know they often mount the LITENING pod there. (as well as LANTIRN and Sniper pods)

The LITENING pod is in the Hasegawa 1/48 AV-8B kits and the cheek adapter is in the 1/48 Hasegawa Weapons Set D(it's the same as the LANTRIN one).

A friend of mine was made a detailed master in 1/48 for the LITENING pod and adapter is in the Hasegawa Weapons Set D,the LANTRIN adapter is one and the same as the LITENING one(and a 1/32 scale pod),he's working full-time now and his mother is still not in the best of health,in between work and his mom he hasn't had alot of time for the casting or the hobby.I'll be talking to him this week to get a sample batch kicked out to see how they look.

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The LITENING pod is in the Hasegawa 1/48 AV-8B kits and the cheek adapter is in the 1/48 Hasegawa Weapons Set D(it's the same as the LANTRIN one).

A friend of mine was made a detailed master in 1/48 for the LITENING pod and adapter is in the Hasegawa Weapons Set D,the LANTRIN adapter is one and the same as the LITENING one(and a 1/32 scale pod),he's working full-time now and his mother is still not in the best of health,in between work and his mom he hasn't had alot of time for the casting or the hobby.I'll be talking to him this week to get a sample batch kicked out to see how they look.

Thanks, that should help me track the parts down. I'll probably just get the Has. Weapons Set D and use the LANTIRN pod and the adapter sinse that would be a correct set-up.

Edited by David Walker
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Dave,I'm not sure if Colorado has been using the LANTRIN pod,I do know they use the LITENING pod(and I believe they also fly with the SNIPER pod as well) as we've done LITENING pod swap-outs with them before.We used to be in the same AEF as Colorado and Alabama until we hooked up with the South Dakota and Michigan AEF team.I'm sure Jake or a Colorado ARC'er could point you in the right direction as for if they used the LANTRIN pod or not.If you really need a LITENING pod,I can try and hook you up with one.

EDIT: Re-read your earlier post,I haven't seen any pics of them using the LANTRIN pod but I imagine they have been since a few other ANG units have been using them as well.The only pod we've used is the LITENING pod,I've seen any other pod on base.F-16 Weapons here on the boards can probably tell you more,he's a weapons loader in our unit and is more up-to-date on the goings on nowdays,I retired in 2004 and not always in the loop on any changes until I see it with my own eyes. :blink:

Edited by ThePhantomTwo
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Hello all,

Once more many thanks for Your inputs and great photos.

Regarding Litening/LANTIRN TGPs, I can tell You that the Colorado ANG for some periods used the AAQ-14 TGPs of the LANTIRN system. Many ANG F-16 units did use these AAQ-14s for shorter or longer periods, as the AAQ-28 Litenings at some point were in short supply. Also remember that many ANG F-16 units converted/up-graded with the TGP mission at the same time, so when Litenings were "in theatre" in the Gulf etc. units back home in the US had to use the AAQ-14s to stay qualified with the TGP mission.

As a "general" rule to remember I would say that every F-16 unit in the ANG with Block-30s and above have used these AAQ-14s at some point from the year 2000 up untill now. Even today You will be able to see a unit with all three TGPs at the same time - - AAQ-14s, AAQ-28s and AAQ-38 (Snipers).

The AAQ-38 Sniper system is not unit wide at the moment and some units in the ANG that did receive this system has since "traded off" with Litenings again, as Snipers are in high demand for the Active/Overseas F-16 units. The following ANG units do, however, regularly fly with Snipers (at least to my knowledge):

"DC" ANG.

"NY" ANG.

"NM" ANG.

"SC" ANG.

Many greetings,

Henrik.

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Colorado does have all three pods currently. I was out at Buckley 3 weeks ago, and shot jets with all 3 different types of pods.

It's also worth noting that most units don't "own" their pods. They are swapped around from one unit to the next as that unit's requirements need met. Also, with the current tempo of worldwide operations, traditional capabilities of certain units are being expanded to keep pace with operations. Take the MRP pod, for example. It used to be that only a handful of units were capable of employing the recon mission. Now, nearly every unit is qualified.

Jake

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Very nice.

I'm actually sitting in a Terre Haute, IN hotel room reading this, and was wondering if the 181st was home? I might have a few spare moments this week, and might head over to the airport if I knew they were flying.

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Very nice.

I'm actually sitting in a Terre Haute, IN hotel room reading this, and was wondering if the 181st was home? I might have a few spare moments this week, and might head over to the airport if I knew they were flying.

Well,I'm sitting at work in Terre Haute reading this :D There should be flying all this week I imagine,give me a shout and maybe I can give you a tour of the flightline if your schedule and my schedule allows it(I work nights but working a 12 hour shift tonight).Your hotel is probably less than 2 miles away from where I work(I imagine your at a hotel near I-70 and U.S. 41,can you see a Books-A-Million out your window? :D )

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Colorado does have all three pods currently. I was out at Buckley 3 weeks ago, and shot jets with all 3 different types of pods.

Thus my reasoning of using the LANTIRN pod on the Colorado F-16 I plan to do. Of the three pods it definitely should be the easiest to track down in 1/48th.

Edited by David Walker
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Thus my reasoning of using the LANTIRN pod on the Colorado F-16 I plan to do. Of the three pods it definitely should be the easiest to track down in 1/48th.

Yup,hopefully Hasegawa(or maybe someone else) will come out with another weapons set that has all the pods.I picked the Hasegawa AV-8B kits at Hobby Lobby at thier 1/2 off sales for my LITENING pods prior to my friend making a master and casting his own pods.I gave my friend SNIPER walk-arounds,maybe he can make those as well(not holding my breath since he's working now and his mom is in bad health).

I was kind of hoping our unit would start using the Sniper pods but I doubt that'll happen before we cease flying operations.

Jake's right,no unit "owns" the pods,we've done pod swap-outs with quite a few units in the past.

The recon pod we had on base for a bit,flew a few sorties with them and then shipped them off to other units,we were supposed to be one of the units that deployed with them but the powers seen fit to change thier mind.

Edited by ThePhantomTwo
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