The inboard pylon of a JaboG35 F-4F, with training rounds for the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AGM-65B Maverick. The “scene mag” stencil indicates that the missile’s TV guidance system includes a facility to magnify a target image on a cockpit screen, allowing the pilot to see and lock on to smaller targets at greater range, albeit with a rather small field of vision. (Author)
General Dynamics AGM-78 Standard ARM. Originally, it used Shrike guidance electronics attached to a USN RIM-66 Standard surface-to-air missile, but was airlaunched to perform the Shrike function more effectively at up to 50 miles’ range with a 214lb warhead. The upgraded AGM-78C/D had new guidance electronics. It was used by USAF F-4Gs and the Israeli Air Force. Texas Instruments AGM-88A/B/C HARM. A sophisticated replacement for Standard ARM, it was faster, lighter, and had a “broad band” seeker that could be programmed against several SAM sites, either from the F-4G’s APR-47 radar warning receiver or before flight when the missile searched out its target, guiding onto the target’s emissions. A third mode enabled it to home on to unanticipated targets of opportunity. Mitsubishi Type 80 ASM-1C. This 1,345lb medium-range antishipping missile was compatible with the F-4EJ Kai. Powered by a solid-propellant rocket motor, this “fire-and-forget” 684mph weapon combined inertial and radar guidance. Bombs F-4s of many air forces have carried a wide range of general-purpose, free-fall bombs including M117 (820lb), Mk 81 (260lb), Mk 82 (510lb), Mk 84 (1,972lb), and retarded versions of the Mk 81 and Mk 82 with extending Mk 15 Snakeye 1 fins. Air-inflatable retarding kits could also be fitted to the Mk 82 AIR, M117 AIR, and Mk 84 AIR. Spanish F-4Cs also carried indigenous ALD-250 and ALD-500 versions of the Mk 82 and Mk 83, among others. After tests with many different versions, laser-guided adaptations of the Paveway I series GBU-12 (Mk 82-based) and GBU-10A/B (Mk 84) were used in Vietnam by F-4D/Es, and were succeeded by the Paveway II with simpler guidance electronics and pop-out wings that occupied less space than the fixed aerofoils of Paveway I. Paveway III versions of the Mk 84 (GBU-24/B), introduced in 1987, had a digital autopilot and microprocessor controls for
Armed for virtually any eventuality apart from “air-toair,” 81st TFW F-4D-31-MC 66-7735 totes a Rockwell GBU-8/B HOBOS (left). The centerline pylon supports an SUU-23/A gun-pod and the right inboard pylon has a GBU-10 laser-guided bomb. The forward missile wells accommodate an AVQ-23 Pave Spike (left well) and an ALQ-119(V) ECM pod (right, foreground). (Author)
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