Members of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center team at Tinker AFB, Okla., were instrumental to quick fielding of the Sniper pod on the B-1B bomber, which saw its first combat employment with the targeting pod last month in operations in Afghanistan. Reacting to a priority request from US Air Forces Central, the ALC team employed an external pylon for the Sniper pod and used an existing on-board laptop computer to provide control of the pod and video imagery for the crew. Use of the pod greatly shortens the kill chain, providing a stable, long-range image for laser targeting and enables the crew to conduct bomb damage assessment. According to 2nd Lt. Douglas Richardson, B-1B avionics engineer with the ALC’s 427th Aircraft Sustainment Group, troops in close contact with enemy forces can “call the B-1B and the B-1B can see exactly what’s going on and target the enemy forces in seconds.” (Tinker report by Danielle Gregory)
The Space Force should take bold, decisive steps—and soon—to develop the capabilities and architecture needed to support more flexible, dynamic operations in orbit and counter Chinese aggression and technological progress, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
