With retirement for its aging RF-4 Phantoms looming, the Japan Air Self Defence Force has decided to equip a portion of its F-15J Eagle fighters with a reconnaissance capability. Yesterday Lockheed Martin announced that it would be part of a Japanese team to provide a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capability to the Eagle. The company will provide SAR radars to be fitted into a pod carried under the aircraft’s belly. SAR produces high-quality imagery and can be used to pinpoint targets. In the F-15 pod the imagery will be recorded on digital, solid-state equipment and can be datalinked to ground stations for real-time interpretation.