Barksdale AFB’s 93rd Bomb Squadron, 917th Reserve Wing, has become the first B-52 squadron to complete necessary training requirements for combat use of the LITENING-AT targeting pod. The units crews passed that milestone on July 13. The targeting pod, used with great success on tactical fighters, features high-definition electro-optical sensors and lasers to help crews detect and identify targets and guide weapons. With the upgrade, said Lt. Col. William Floyd, the 93rd BS weapons and tactics flight commander, the BUFF unit has achieved “probably the most combat relevant enhancement to the current B-52 mission.”
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
