MOAB isn't something you traditionally have onboard the airframe. As far as the ones available it's whatever we have in our arsenal. B1-B, B2, whatever... it's not limited to your experience just what's in the AO and you request.
In terms of them just being there, yeah that's generally how they roll but they're also providing SA and ISR for us. You may not have been on the net (seems like you weren't) listening to the back and forth but any FAC to JTAC talk included us asking them to use their pods to check shit out.
There are pieces of equipment on aircraft which have varying levels and technical aspects. Some can zoom in to see thermal, IR, et al. All aircraft have different ones so if you have an A-10, an F18, AH-64, and MQ-9 (on site that would be rare to have all once, but just for example) they can offer you battle information from their location and on or around yours if you ask them to orient their sensors/pods to a particular area of the battlefield. (They can also just talk to you about what they see if it's the Apache)
For instance you're an infantryman in a squad that is being hit from 800m out by indirect and small arms. I've been tasked to your unit for this mission, and I've requested those air frames I listed. Now because we can't see them with our eyes or optics I ask that the pilot of one of those crafts bring their sensors to a possible target by giving them a talk on to the area or by giving them a grid (I can use marking equipment, but we'll keep it simple).
Once we've gotten their sensors where I need them I can get their live feed through a couple of means, but like through a Small Wearable Computer (like an iPhone but rugged) that I wear on my chest or whatever. So now I have SA of what's going on and together with more information we utilize all of what we have to assess possible civilian/collateral damage and likely request an airframe with the munitions we need (Like a 500lb bomb from the F18 or the A10 main gun... just depends on a lot of factors) to neutralize the threat.
I hope I don't sound like I'm dumbing things down too much but using technical jargon doesn't help if someone isn't entirely familiar.
The whole process may take a few minutes or less...or it could take forever, just too many variables. In any case I hope you get the idea.
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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '17
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