aircraft store

Any device intended for internal or external carriage and mounted on aircraft suspension and release equipment, whether or not the item is intended to be separated in flight from the aircraft. Aircraft stores are classified in two categories as follows. a. expendable store--An aircraft store normally separated from the aircraft in flight such as a missile, rocket, bomb, nuclear weapon, mine, torpedo, pyrotechnic device, sonobuoy, signal underwater sound device, or other similar items. b. nonexpendable store--An aircraft store which is not normally separated from the aircraft in flight such as a tank (fuel and spray), line-source disseminator, pod (refueling, thrust augmentation, gun, electronic attack, data link, etc.), multiple rack, target, cargo drop container, drone, or other similar items. See also payload.