Collins Announces First Flight of New F-16 Reconnaissance Pod for International Customer

Collins Aerospace has completed the first flight test of its newest Fast-Jet reconnaissance pod, the MS-110 Multispectral Airborne Reconnaissance system, on an F-16 for an undisclosed international customer.

The test flight demonstrated aircraft integration, flightworthiness, and full-system performance within the demanding confines of tactical jet flight envelopes.

The advanced MS-110 enhances airborne reconnaissance mission capabilities by providing a longer range and wider area of surveillance in contested and peacetime scenarios against peer and near-peer adversaries. The system’s advanced imagery and multispectral capabilities detect targets with a higher degree of confidence, even through poor weather/atmospheric conditions, and may be rapidly disseminated via high-bandwidth datalink and Collins’ ground intelligence-sharing architecture.

Collins Aerospace reconnaissance systems have been fielded and are operational on tactical fast jet platforms such as the F-15 and F-16, as well as special mission ISR business jets. The system is also compatible with MALE UAVs such as the MQ-9. The MS-110 sensor evolved from the highly successful DB-110 system and leverages Collins Aerospace’s proven multi-spectral imaging (MSI) expertise from SYERS-2C flown on the U-2.