1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
fall of 1976, unit aircrews were being qualified on
the HSLLADS airdrop capability. The system had
been tested and certified in 1973, but budget reductions
throughout SOF and the additional requirement
for US Army certification had prevented
earlier employment of the system
throughout the Talon community. 36
The long-anticipated tasking for Commando
Talon operations came in October, and the
squadron deployed to Osan AB during three
weeklong periods beginning on 16 October 1975.
The 1st SOS flew successful missions nightly
from 16 to 22 October, 16 to 23 November, and
10 to 17 December. 37 By year’s end the 1st SOS
had become an active participant in the defense
of the ROK.
The squadron also participated in Specwarex
1-77 from 4 to 14 November in the Philippines.
During the exercise several small-unit counterterrorism
field problems were executed, with the
climax of the exercise designed around a hostage
rescue mission on 12 November. For this mission
participants included USA Special Forces sol -
diers, USAF Combat Control Team (CCT) members,
and an aggressor force made up of US Navy
SEALs. The 1st SOS began the exercise by onloading
11 Special Forces, seven CCT personnel,
and one jeep with a driver and a gunner, and
then departing the airfield for a two-hour lowlevel
infiltration route. The scenario called for
airdrop of the paratroopers, who were tasked with
freeing the hostages and securing the landing/
extraction zone. Within 10 minutes of the drop,
CCT had marked the landing zone, and the Special
Forces team had moved into position to free
the hostages. The Combat Talon landed and offloaded
the gun jeep, which was used to assist in
the hostage rescue operation. After 11 minutes
on the ground, 35 “hostages” were successfully
freed from their captors, and the aircraft departed
the airfield with everyone on board. The
total elapsed time from airdrop to final departure
was 20 minutes. The operation was considered
a success, but additional procedures were
needed to decrease ground time for the aircraft.
38 Although this rescue operation was rudimentary
compared to later exercises, it marked
the first time that a hostage rescue scenario
was included in an SOF exercise with Combat
Talon participation. With the coming storm of international
terrorism, it certainly would not be
the last.
The 8th SOS Becomes
a Talon Test Squadron
At the 8th SOS 1976 marked an upsurge in
Combat Talon system testing by the squadron.
Early in the year, from 18 to 19 February, an
HSLLADS orientation conference was held at
Hurlburt Field that was hosted by the TAWC and
attended by Aeronautical System Division (ASD)
representatives and members of the joint community
that would employ the system. The conference
was to standardize rigging and loading procedures
and to resolve any questions potential
users might have of ASD. At the conclusion of the
conference, a forward restraint system was identified
as a system deficiency, and TAWC agreed to
provide preliminary engineering studies to ASD
for action. The conference was a success, resulting
in an improved HSLLADS capability. 39
On 28 February one aircraft and crew deployed
to Nellis AFB, Nevada, to participate in TAC Project
75T-902, code-named Seabear. The test project
was to evaluate the Combat Talon terrainfollowing
and mapping radar systems in a
simulated combat environment. Sorties were
flown on 2, 3, and 4 March, with redeployment to
Hurlburt Field on 5 March 1976. During the test,
a problem with the AN/APQ-122(V)8 radar was
noted. The 4 March flight was planned to fly over
a sand dune ridge located in the Nellis AFB
range. The area had been identified by F-111 pilots
as hazardous because their radar did not
“paint” the dunes and provide a command to fly
over them. When the Talon passed over the
dunes, its TF/TA radar did not provide a climb
command either, thus bringing the crew to the
conclusion that the system might not detect some
terrain in arid, sandy environments. 40 A warning
was later placed in the Lockheed Technical Manual
to alert operators to the hazard of flying in the
TF mode over deep sand or snow.
The primary purpose of the Seabear test was to
determine if certain enemy ECM equipment affected
the Talon radar. Also, chaff and radar decoys
were tested against the radar to determine if
there was any interference. The test determined
that the chaff had little effect on the KA band
mapping radar, but it did create interference
when operating in the terrain-following mode.
The radar decoys had no effect on the Talon’s radar.
Two enemy jamming systems were also
tested against the AN/APQ-122(V)8, with mixed
results. In general there was some degradation of
the Talon radar, but the system continued to
function while in the low-level mode. 41
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