Taiwan has begun flight-testing the MS-110 multispectral reconnaissance pod on its F-16V fleet, with the pod publicly seen mounted on an aircraft at Chiashan Air Force Base in Hualien. The system, built by RTX’s Raytheon, is due to broaden the air force’s long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance reach and can support day-and-night collection over wider areas than Taiwan’s existing pod inventory.
Taiwan acquired six MS-110 systems from the United States, with the pods arriving before testing and crew training started. The MS-110 is designed for compatibility with several combat aircraft, including the F-16, F-15 and F/A-18, giving it broader export relevance as a high-end ISR sensor package.
The pod is reported to use seven sensing bands and to perform in haze, smoke and darkness, while RTX describes channels spanning blue, green, red, near-infrared, short-wave infrared and two mid-wave infrared bands. Officials cited by Taiwanese media placed the effective reconnaissance range at more than 80 nautical miles and the imagery output at about 26,000 square kilometres per hour, more than twice the efficiency of the Phoenix Eye pod currently in service.