The Lightening Pod ( eye of Indian fighter jets)

The lightening pod as per resources I explained what the sweet-looking and deadly pod is capable of the Lightning targeting pod is an advanced precision targeting pod system currently operational with a wide variety of aircraft worldwide this targeting pod system significantly increases the combat effectiveness of an aircraft during day/night and under any weather condition according to a website called faster. arc with the use of these new targeting systems the two bombs could do the same amount of damage that was done by 900 bombs during world war ii and 300 bombs during vietnam war imagine an aircraft enters enemy airspace and then tries to neutralize an enemy infantry column with its air-to-ground missile systems to perform its mission successfully this aircraft will now have to locate the target identify it recognize it and then deploy its weapon to destroy that to perform all these tasks the aircraft will have to carry just one pod that is lightning and lightning will do all these activities with the help of its sensor array very effectively the Lightning pod present pilot with the real-time data with the help of its FLIR that is forward-looking infra-red sensor and CCD imagery which is charged coupled devices in short a very high definition fast camera if you look at the Lightning pod closely you will understand that this pod has three different sections the front section that is the housing for all the sensors this section is called as forward section the part after this is called after section and in this section all the circuitry and electronics of the spod are placed along with the servo mechanism that helps the spot to move its head and the last segment is called environmental control and that is where the interfaces that connects the spot with the aircraft the most important segment of this pod is the forward section and this is where all the sensors of this pod are placed based on the multiple inputs from these sensors the processing of the signal is done and that's how a pinpoint accuracy attack is achieved the first sensor is called forward-looking infrared sensor this is nothing but a very high-resolution infrared camera that detects the energy coming out of a body the detected infrared energy that is heat is converted into electronic signal which is then processed to produce a thermal image which helps the pilot to identify the target the next sensor is laser rangefinder and designator with the help of this sensor an aircraft can deploy an laser-guided bombs with a pinpoint accuracy this laser rangefinder sends the directed laser towards the target and then the reflected laser is intercepted since the speed at which this laser is traveling is known the micro processors can quickly calculate the distance at which the target is the same laser can be used as designator which points the target that allows the laser-guided bombs to use this as a reference point and with the help of its laser guidance they get directed towards this point the next sensor is narrow field of view charge-coupled device or laser spotter this is nothing but very high-speed narrow field of view camera that can provide very high definition picture of a very small area with the help of this sensor the pod can now identify the target recognize it and it can also locate the laser spot because of this ability of the pod the ground forces can tag a target with the help of ground lasers and then this aircraft can do the pinpoint bombing based on the input from the ground forces the next one is wide field-of-view charge-coupled device this is also in high-definition camera but this has a very wide angle lens so basically the narrow field of view and wide field of view are digital cameras with very high resolution and very high accuracy if one had to explain the narrow field of view ccd then it can be said as a DSLR configure to take close-up shots where as wide field-of-view ccd unlike DSLR configured to take panoramic shots the fighter jet on machine is not stationary and it is bound to do maneuvers in the air does the relative position of the fighter jets keeps changing every fraction of second does the spot is equipped with inertial navigation system that continuously provides the feedback to the computers in order to offset the change in position due to movement and maneuvers now let's talk about the after section in the after section this part carries multiple electronic units since this part is modular in nature it can carry multiple electronics unit based on the requirement in fact the older pods can be upgraded using the kits available to upgrade them the very first electronic unit is the electronic unit that supports forward-looking infrared sensor the conversion of heat energy into electrical signal is done here the sensor in the front end just collects the heat energy from the target the system electronic unit module performs the function of power supply storage section and support segments for various high speed cameras available in the front section as said before this aircraft on which this part is fixed is not stationary and it keeps moving thus the sensor on the pod requires movement to offset this this offset movement is provided by the servo mechanism which consists of various servo motors and that is controlled by servo module the environmental control unit is also a very important part of the spod this environmental control unit and chose the operation of this pod is accurate this section has an air heating and cooling unit mounted at the rear of the pod with the connecting air pipes which creates air flow within the pod to maintain the ambient air and temperature within the pod body the indian air force operates a wide variety of fighter jets but all these fighter jets are equipped with lightning pod the version g4 and lightning 3 are operational with Indian Air Force on the platforms like su-30mki mig-29 UPG Mirage 2000 Jaguar and HaL tegas Israelis currently working on the latest version of this pod that will also carry a synthetic aperture radar which will significantly enhance its performance and make it even more deadly.