1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
Photo courtesy of Robert Jingst
Gen Wayne Downing (CINCSOC) visited the troops while they were deployed to
Guantanamo Bay. General Downing is pictured fourth from the left.
Pilsung range in Korea. Pilsung range was an ob -
solete facility that did not have the threat array
required to challenge the Combat Talon, and it
was a joint-use facility shared with the Korean air
force. It was also open only one night a week, and
with the 1st SOS flying almost exclusively at
night, there was not enough opportunity to schedule
the range to keep assigned crews proficient.
To improve access to ECM ranges, the 1st SOS
turned to Australia and to Alaska. Building on
previous JCET events in Australia, the 353d SOG
participated in several combined exercises with
Australia’s Special Air Service and US Army Special
Forces. In conjunction with the combined exercises,
airborne intercept training with Royal
Australian Air Force F/A-18s was conducted. At
Darwin, Australia, an ECM range was available
for Royal Australian Air Force use, and the 353d’s
long-term goal was to gain permission for the 1st
SOS to fly on the range. In Alaska 1st SOS crews
participated in several joint and unilateral exercises
that emphasized air intercept and ECM
training. Australian and Alaskan deployments
gave the 1st SOS access to vast and unrestricted
flying areas and effectively filled the critical ECM
training shortfall. 136
From 18 to 29 April the group passed another
milestone when it received an ASET visit from
Headquarters AFSOC. The team evaluated flight
operations and training by conducting flight checks,
aircrew testing, and inspections of documentation
to measure compliance with directives. The ASET
administered 92 aircrew check rides, 88 of which
were graded as fully qualified (Q-1), three were
conditionally qualified (Q-2), and only one was
categorized as unqualified (Q-3). The team also
conducted 166 written evaluations. An overall rating
of excellent was earned by the group, with a
score of 95.2 percent being awarded by the team.
The ASET was another indicator of how far the
group had come since relocating to Kadena AB. 137
To assess Kadena AB’s ability to support the
CT II, another SATAF was held from 6 to 8 June
1994. As had been the case the previous year, the
SATAF pronounced Kadena AB as unsatisfactory
based on its assessment of spare parts availability,
including AN/APQ-170 radar spares and C-130
common parts. The SATAF also determined that
facilities planning, although vastly improved from
the previous year, was still marginal. The facilities
rating was a result of the close time line for modifying
building 3306 as a radar maintenance shop.
Lack of mobility storage space, joint use of the ba se
fuel cell and corrosion control facilities, and the
high-risk work for building 3306 were all reasons
for the overall unsatisfactory rating. 138
The new CT II beddown schedule had the 1st
SOS receiving its first CT II aircraft during July
1995. Another four aircraft would arrive from August
through December 1995. The 1st SOS would
lose one MC-130E in December 1994 and then
lose one each month during August through November
1995. The graduated phase-in of the CT II
was designed to minimize the impact of loosing
the CT I in-theater and was critically important
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