Pave Knife

The Ford Aerospace AN/ALQ-10 Pave Knife was an early targeting pod developed by the USAF to designate and guide laser-guided bombs.

Pave Knife was developed in 1969 to replace the original, essentially improvised Airborne Laser Designator (ALD). ALD was not a pod, but a hand-held laser operated by the weapon systems officer to mark targets for Paveway laser-guided bombs. Pave Knife was a roughly banana-shaped external pod, weighing about 550 kg (1,200 lb), containing a steerable laser and closed-circuit television camera. The WSO or bombardier/navigator (BN) monitored the TV image with a small Sony TV in the cockpit and steered the laser onto the target with a hand controller, then passing the target information to the aircraft's gun sight.

Pave Knife was used by F-4 Phantom II and A-6 Intruder aircraft in the attack role. It was used operationally in the Vietnam War; while it had its limitations, it validated the combat utility of laser-guided bombs. The Pave Knife was superceded by the later Pave Spike and Pave Tack systems, and is no longer in service.