i had the same problem earlier. I had done evertyhing that u did, but still the laser pod won't show up. Then suddenly in Single Mission Menu, i selected mission year to 2004 and onwards, and to my suprise both the Sniper XR Targeting Pod & AN/ASQ-173 LANTIRN are there in the list. I just could not explained how excited i was (and still is) to be able to drop LGB from Hornet. U can use both pods for targeting purposes,but for some reason the ASQ-173 model won't show up on the sparrow station when you look at the hornet externally.