Pave Tack

The Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-26 Pave Tack is an electro-optical targeting pod developed by the United States Air Force (USAF) for military attack aircraft. It uses a laser and a forward looking infrared to find and designate targets for laser-guided bombs and other precision-guided munitions. Pave Tack's images are routed to a cockpit display, usually for the weapon systems officer.

Pave Tack was developed in the late 1970s and entered service in 1982, and was initially used by the USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and General Dynamics F-111F Aardvark strike aircraft. Its combat debut came in 1986 during Operation Eldorado Canyon's air raid against Libya from F-111F aircraft stationed at RAF Lakenheath England. F-111s used it to great effect in the Gulf War of 1991, both against fixed targets and against tanks (the destruction of tanks with LGBs designated GBU-12, became known as "tank plinking").

Pave Tack is a large installation, with the pod alone weighing some 629 kg (1,385 lb) and measuring 4,220 mm (166 inches) in length. On the F-4, the size of the pod meant that it had to be carried on the centerline station in place of the standard drop tank, and it imposed a substantial aerodynamic drag penalty; crews referred to it as "Pave Drag," and it was generally unpopular. The F-111C and F-111F carried the Pave Tack pod on a rotating carriage in its internal bomb bay, retracting it when not in use to reduce drag and protect the sensors from damage.

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