Pave Tack

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

Pave Tack was developed in the late 1970s and initially used by USAF F-4 Phantom II and F-111F 'Aardvark' strike aircraft. Its combat debut came in 1986, during Operation Eldorado Canyon's air raid against Libya. 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 became known as "tank plinking").

Pave Tack was a sizeable installation, with the pod alone weighing some 565 kg (1,244 lb) and measuring 4.22 m (166 inches) in length. On the F-4, the pod was large enough that it had to be carried on the centerline station in place of the standard drop tank. The F-111 carried the Pave Tack pod on a rotating carriage in its internal weapons bay, retracting it when not in use to reduce drag and protect the sensors from damage.

The last USAF Pave Tacks were withdrawn with the retirement of the F-111 in 1996. A small number remain in use by the RAAF, although the age of the system has become a maintenance and reliability headache, since many of its parts are obsolete and no longer available.

See also: Pave Penny, Pave Knife, Pave Spike, LANTIRN

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