February15, 2007: Belgium bought eight Sniper XR targeting pods, for about $15 million (including training on use and installation), to equip its F-16s. Delivery will begin this year. These pods are all the rage with fighter pilots. And now the U.S. Air Force is even installing Sniper XR targeting pods on some of its B-1B bombers. The latest generation of these pods contain FLIR (video quality night vision infrared radar) and TV cameras that enable pilots flying at 20,000 feet to clearly make out what is going on down there. The pods also contain laser designators for laser guided bombs, and laser range finders that enable pilots to get coordinates for JDAM (GPS guided) bombs. Safely outside the range of most anti-aircraft fire (five kilometers up, and up to fifty kilometers away), pilots can literally see the progress of ground fighting, and have even been acting as aerial observers for ground forces. These new capabilities also enable pilots to more easily find targets themselves, and hit them with highly accurate laser guided or JDAM bombs. While bombers still get target information from ground controllers for close (to friendly troops) air support, they can now go searching on their own, in areas where there are no friendly ground troops.

Belgium apparently plans to use these pods for peacekeeping missions, where a few F-16s could provide emergency assistance for widely dispersed peacekeeping troops. The F-16 with the pod could see clearly what is happening on the ground, and, if needed, drop a smart bomb precisely.