1 - The Black Vault

MOUNT PINATUBO TO OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR
At the end of 1992 the 8th SOS possessed three
MOD-90 aircraft with a new communications system,
improved electronic warfare systems, and
the ALQ-172 SPJ. In addition, the CT Is had been
fitted with an integrated GPS, improved IR capa -
bility, and the ALE-40 system for decoying IR
guided missiles. For STARS missions the 8th SOS
was the only squadron that maintained airframes
capable of performing Fulton recoveries. Plans
called for a reduction from nine to three STARScapable
CT Is to reduce the cost of maintaining
the expensive system. 59 Except for the Pacific Talons,
all CT Is either were at Hurlburt Field assigned
to the 8th SOS or at LAS Ontario undergoing
MOD-90 upgrade.
Kirtland AFB Receives the
Combat Talon II
Kirtland AFB had been preparing to receive
the Combat Talon II since the late 1980s. When
AFSOC was formed as a separate command in
May 1990, the decision to base SOF training at
Albuquerque was reviewed. Senior leadership felt
that AFSOC was too small a command to be able
to absorb its own training program, while at the
same time supporting real-world contingency
tasking. The decision to base Combat Talon II
training at Kirtland AFB was validated, however,
and preparations for the arrival of the weapons
system continued at the New Mexico base. With
its first CT II scheduled for delivery in July 1991,
the first class was tentatively scheduled for the
following November. In anticipation of these
events, work on the Talon II pilot and navigator
courseware was completed in January 1991. Work
on the CT II flight engineer and loadmaster
courseware was completed in May. Plans to validate
the CT II courseware before the first students
arrived at Kirtland AFB was also finalized.
An interim schoolhouse was planned at Hurlburt
Field beginning in March 1991, lasting for two to
three months and utilizing both Kirtland AFB instructors
and those from the 8th SOS. The interim
schoolhouse would allow the courseware to
be tested and validated before the first students
arrived at Kirtland AFB. 60
Design work was finished for an MC-130H
Combat Talon II flight simulator building in May
1990, followed closely by the design of a new avionics
maintenance facility. The wing included the
two projects in its FY 90 military construction program,
and on 22 October a contract for the construction
of the simulator building was awarded.
The wing held a groundbreaking ceremony on 12
November, and construction began on 20 November.
The projected cost to build the new facility
was $5 million, and the contractor expected to
have it finished by December 1991. A contract to
build the avionics maintenance facility was
awarded on 30 November 1990 for $3.6 million,
and the formal ground breaking ceremony was
held on 28 December. The two projects represented
two of the more costly construction projects
required to beddown the Combat Talon II. 61
As 1990 came to a close, Kirtland AFB was on
track to receive its initial Combat Talon II weapons
system.
The Combat Talon II radar continued to delay
the delivery of the new aircraft, and the 1 July
1991 delivery of the first aircraft to Kirtland AFB
was slipped to the following spring. Kirtland AFB
received its first Combat Talon II in March 1992
but had the official roll out ceremony in June.
Three more Combat Talon IIs were delivered between
15 September and 10 November 1992. In
October 1991 the wing sent its initial cadre of
Combat Talon II instructors to Hurlburt Field to
help the 8th SOS teach the first two MC-130H
formal classes. The first class started on 21 October
1991 and finished on 7 February 1992; the
second class began on 20 January 1992 and finished
on 24 April. The Kirtland AFB instructors
returned to their home bases and taught the first
class there beginning on 7 July 1992. Kirtland
AFB and Hurlburt Field jointly taught formal
classes during the following six months. All formal
CT II classes after 11 December 1992, how -
ever, were taught only at Kirtland AFB. The new
formal school planned to train approximately 16
Combat Talon II crews the first year and 12 crews
annually thereafter. 62
As the new Combat Talons began arriving at
Kirtland AFB in the spring and summer of 1992,
the 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing (CCTW)
(the host wing for Combat Talon) was going
through a tumultuous period in its own history.
On 19 February 1976 the 1550th Aircrew Training
and Test Wing (ATTW) moved from Hill AFB,
Utah, to Kirtland AFB. On 1 October 1983 the
1550th ATTW joined Twenty-Third AF as a MAC
unit assigned to Scott AFB, Illinois. On 15 May
1984 it was redesignated the 1550th CCTW and
continued to train HC-130P/N and USAF rotarywing
crew members. 63 To provide base support for
the 1550th CCTW, the 1606th Air Base Wing
(ABW) was established as a second MAC wing located
at Kirtland AFB, and it served as the host
wing for all base-assigned units. On 1 October
383