A Royal Air Force 617 Squadron armourer carefully removes a RAPTOR reconaissance pod from a Tornado GR4 aircraft at Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan following a mission.
RAPTOR (Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for Tornado), is a 19-foot-long (5.8m) electro-optical and infrared recce pod, or the RAF's largest flying digital camera, capable of taking incredibly highly detailed images of the ground thousands of feet below. This imagery is used to find improvised explosive devices and to assist in the planning of ground missions.
