USAF adds IRST pod for F-15C

USAF adds IRST pod for F-15s
By Stephen Trimble

The US Air Force has revealed plans to purchase and integrate 100 infrared search and track (IRST) pods for its Boeing F-15C/D fleet, the latest addition to a $3 billion portfolio of upgrades since 2000 for the dwindling Eagle fleet.

Lockheed Martin will supply Boeing with an upgraded version of the ANS-42 IRST pod that originally flew on the US Navy’s Grumman F-14D Tomcat, and was selected more recently for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Unlike the F/A-18’s IRST pod, which is mounted at the front of a fuel tank, the F-15 version will feature a sleeker pod design mounted on its “Station 5” stores pylon, says Brad Jones, Boeing’s F-15 radar modernisation programme manager. A similar pod has already been supplied for South Korea’s F-15K fleet.

Although mounted on the aircraft’s belly, the long-range sensor will have the ability to look up by 5°, Jones says. As a passive sensor, the IRST pod will augment the F-15C/D fleet’s mechanically and electronically scanned radars to search for enemy aircraft and missiles at very long range, he adds.

more at link…
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/09/18/332380/usaf-adds-irst-pod-for-f-15s.html

Looks like USAF found some money to upgrade the old dogs. Yet another fallout of getting their butts kicked by MKIs at Cope India.