Pave Spike
The Westinghouse Pave Spike is an electro-optical laser designator pod used to direct laser-guided bombs to target in daylight, visual conditions. It contained a laser boresighted to a television camera, which displayed its image on a cockpit screen. 156 examples of the original AN/AVQ-153 were used by USAF F-4 aircraft (D and E variants) from 1974 to 1982, replacing the earlier Pave Knife. The 144-inch-long (3.66 m), 420-lb (209 kg) pod was mounted in the F-4's left forward missile well, in place of a AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile. During the Gulf War a small number of simplified AN/AVQ-23E pods were supplied to the RAF for their Blackburn Buccaneers. The pod is now obsolete, and is being phased out in favor of newer systems like LANTIRN and ATFLIR.
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