I’m hoping some here can help with this. I’m building the big Acaddemy Hornet and I’m trying to decide on loadout. I’ve pretty much decided that it’ll be carrying tanks on the inboarc pylons and MK.82 Snakeyes on the outer pylons. That now leaves the fuselage pylons. For those that don’t have the kit or don’t know much about Hornets, here’s my choices:
2 AIM-7M Sparrows
or
2 AIM-120 AMRAAMs
or
1 FLIR pod on the left side and either a TINS pod or LDT/SCAM pod on the right side
My preference here is to go with the AIM-120’s, but I have a feeling that in order for it to carry the bombs, it will need the targeting system pods. Is this true?
Bones, the MK-82 bombs needs no targeting pod and are delivered using CCIP or CCRP bombing modes which is internal to the aircraft’s avionics itself. Go with the AIM-120s which would be a realistic load.
I thought I’d be able to help, but wrong branch. I worked several of the target designator systems in the Air Force that were externally mounted. On all the aircraft I worked, the external fuel tanks were always mounted to the outboard pylons with the ordinance on the inboard pylons.
As for the position of the FLIR pod. I’d say it’s a safe bet that there is only one place to mount it due to having to rewire the aircraft. In other words, that wouldn’t be interchangeable like the ordinance. So you might be able to do a google image search of the system and see where it’s positioned on the aircraft.
Thats a good point about the MK-82’s, Unless they’re equipped with laser or FLIR seeker heads, they wouldn’t need the targeting pod. To get an idea of what the seek head looks like, do a search on MK-82 laser guided bombs. And if I remember correctly, the MK-82’s were the smaller 500 lb bombs and the MK-84’s were the larger 2000 lb bombs. And I believe that there are multiple seeker heads they can install nowdays.