Free Republic

EDWARDS AFB - The 419th Flight Test Squadron recently completed its initial developmental testing of a Sniper pod installed on a B-1B Lancer. The pod, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp., is an advanced targeting pod with multi-sensor capability and allows the operator to positively identify targets. Currently, the B-1 cannot positively identify targets without additional aids such as other aircraft or personnel on the ground, said Maj. Jacque Joffrion, 419th Squadron B-1 flight commander and experimental test pilot. The pod increases the aircraft's self-targeting capability, he said. "The positive target identification capability of the targeting pod is what enhances reconnaissance...

WASHINGTON - Of the two bombs that flattened the safe house in which terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed, the first to strike was a type the Air Force has used for 30 years. The second was a new weapon whose first use in combat was in October 2004 against — coincidentally — a building in Iraq said by the U.S. military to be hosting a "confirmed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist meeting." This time they got it right. An F-16C Fighting Falcon jet dropped both bombs — first a 500-pounder known as a GBU-12, guided to its target by...

5/19/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- A B-1B Lancer struck a Taliban-associated compound May 17 near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of coalition ground forces conducting operations to detain individuals suspected of terrorist activities. The bomber responded to an immediate air support request with a GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition, destroying the compound from which the Taliban members were attacking. Coalition ground forces reported approximately 15 to 20 Taliban were killed from the air strike. These individuals were active members of the Taliban network and conducted attacks against coalition and Afghan forces. Additionally, they conducted attacks against Afghan government officials and...

Wednesday, October 13, 2004 The U.S. military has used Iraq to test a precision bomb designed for targets in urban areas and producing minimal collateral damage. The U.S. Air Force has conducted the first successful drop of a GBU-38 bomb in combat during a recent mission in Iraq. The bombs were deployed on two F-16 multi-role fighters, which performed a simultaneous GBU-38 release on the same target in central Iraq. Officials said the 500-pound bombs precisely hit a two-story building occupied by the Tawhid and Jihad group in Faluja with minimal collateral damage. They said this was the first time...