Lockheed Martin and the New York Air National Guard celebrated the initial operational capability of the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod at a ceremony in Syracuse, N.Y. on April 21. Local officials and members of the 174th Fighter Wing—the first USAF unit to achieve Sniper IOC—were on hand to extol the pod, which already has seen combat action on F-16s and F-15Es. The system provides target coordinates for precision-guided munitions and offers a non-traditional intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance capability.
The Air Force said May 4 it has approved the T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft to move into low-rate production and awarded Boeing a $219 million contract to start building the first 14 production jets.