The pods you mention sound like they may be electronic warfare jamming pods.
These pods can be fitted to a wide variety of aircraft/helos.
Many aircraft also carry recon/targetting pods containing camera/infrared/radar/laser/electronic systems.
Some pods are quite small (about the size of a small missile) otheres are quite large such as the image here (roughly the size of a fuel tank).
There are many varieties of pods so it is difficult to know exactly what was being carried.