Editing Targeting pod (section)

==Categories==
===Laser designators===
{{main|Laser designator}}
The design of laser-guided bombs requires a "laser spot tracker" that locates reflected pulsed laser light from a designated target. This enables an aircraft's targeting system to home in on that specific target. The simplest spot trackers, such as the [[Pave Penny]] pod, have no laser at all, just a laser sensor.

Some targeting systems incorporate a [[laser rangefinder]], a laser beam that can calculate the precise range to a target and communicate that information to the [[nav/attack system]]. Many targeting pods or installations use the same sensor as the laser spot tracker to receive the reflected rangefinder signal, so they can perform both ranging and tracking. These are called laser ranger and marked target seeker (LRMTS).

Some targeting systems have a [[laser designator|laser that can designate a target]] for laser-guided munitions, enabling the aircraft to designate its own targets or designate for other friendly units. LRMTS installations (particularly fixed internal units) of the 1970s often did not have a laser of sufficient power and slant range to designate targets, although they could provide rangefinding. Such units required targets to be designated by a ground designator or [[forward air control]]ler in another aircraft.

===Electro-optics===
[[Image:F-15E LANTIRN IR HUD image.jpg|thumb|right|F-15E [[heads-up display]] of infrared image from LANTIRN.]]
The basic [[Electro-optics|electro-optical]] (EO) sensor is essentially a [[video camera]], usually with a magnification lens, helping the aircrew to locate and identify targets. For night and adverse weather use, many EO sensors incorporate low-light light-amplification systems. Some pods supplement the basic visual EO with [[forward-looking infrared]] (FLIR) to aid in locating and identifying targets in darkness. Such systems are sometimes called [[infrared search and track]] sensors.

===Radar===
Some pods may contain a small radar set for targeting and navigation, particularly for aircraft that have no search radar. Such a system, for example, was developed for the unsuccessful N/AW (Night/Adverse Weather) version of the [[USAF]] [[A-10 Thunderbolt II]]. Currently, laser and infrared systems are more common than radar because they are less easily detected by adversaries, providing less warning to the target. Lasers can also provide more accurate ranging data for aerial gunnery.