The Air Force has deployed the new Sniper XR advanced targeting pod on F-16s of the 8th Fighter Wing, Kunsan AB, South Korea. Base officials say the Wolf Pack is the first Pacific Air Forces unit to receive the new pods, which provide greater stand-off range than the LANTIRN pods currently in use. Addition of the Sniper pod makes the Kunsan Vipers “the most lethal in all of PACAF,” says Col. Eric Best, 8th Operations Group commander.
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…