The overseas turret-type electro optical （EO） targeting pods have been subdivided into different generations， therefore， the main technical characteristics of typical third-generation pods have been introduced. Four different evaluation criteria for measuring their integration degree have been defined： the ratio of the aperture of the optical aperture to the diameter of the turret， the cube of the aperture of the optical aperture to the weight of the system， the cube of the diameter of the pod to the weight of the system， and the ratio of the weight of the payload to the weight of the system， so as to achieve the quantitative evaluation of the functional density or technological level of the EO targeting pods of similar performances at the macroscopic level. The development status of typical equipment is introduced， focusing on the corporations of typical products such as the American MTS-B pod， Turkish ASELFLIR350 pod and the subsequent ASELFLIR400/500， Canadian MX-15D pod， French EUROFLIR410 pod and German ARGOS II HDT， etc.， and their respective technical styles， characteristics and core payloads are introduced. A forward design evaluation verifies the performance of MTS-B front telescope system and ASELFLIR350 turret's optical payload. Several assimilated technical features of modern EO targeting pods are summarized： the optical-mechanical architecture of multi-band common aperture catadiopatric main system + side-axis small aperture sub-systems is gaining consensus； the laser detection technology of multiple wavelengths is increasingly inclined to the direction of active optics； composite-axis control technology based on the combination of multi-axis， multi-frame platforms and fast steering mirrors （FSM） is gaining popularity； the enhancement of target detail areas is acquiring more attention， and multi-band image fusion information processing technology is becoming more and more important.