The Boeing Company announced it has successfully flight-tested an electro-optical/infrared targeting pod system designed for the B-1 bomber. A B-1 equipped with a Sniper XR electro-optical/infrared targeting pod completed a series of flights from the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Boeing engineers have worked with the U.S. Air Force for the past 14 months to develop the targeting pods as part of an urgent combat need issued by the service. B-1 crews will use the new capability to positively identify stationary and moving targets, improving the bomber's ability to meet mission requirements. The targeting pod is scheduled to be deployed by late summer.

"The Air Force identified the need and the funding and asked how fast we could get this capability to the warfighter," said Mark Metevia, B-1 targeting pod project manager for Boeing. "We assembled a best-of-Boeing team and were able to cut our usual development cycle time in half."

Design work was performed at Long Beach, Calif., and the external pylon was assembled in Mesa, Ariz. Boeing St. Louis workers built pylon parts, electrical testing was performed in Huntington Beach, Calif., and the aircraft was modified by Boeing technicians at Edwards Air Force Base and Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.