August 8, 2009: The South African Air Force selected the British Digital Joint Reconnaissance Pod for their recon aircraft. This is a digital version of an older, and popular, recon pod that used film. The digital version has two digital cameras and an infrared one. The Digital Joint Reconnaissance Pod will be used on the new Gripen aircraft South Africa has recently bought.

Digital cameras are superior to film cameras because no film development is required, and digital images are more easily analyzed using software, rather than depending mostly on human photo interpreters.