1 - The Black Vault

equipment malfunctioned, the more time, dollars,
and manpower were required to repair it. Many
times during the early years of Combat Talon ,
aircraft were flown on missions with an inoperative
radar because the radar could not be kept in
commission. Along with the MTBF problem, the
AN/APQ-115 suffered from inaccurate references
(poor stabilization and Doppler inputs) that degraded
its performance. In 1968 LAS Ontario began
a study into a possible replacement radar
that would be more reliable and require less
maintenance between flights. The USAF was in
the procurement stage for a new radar to improve
its adverse-weather air-dropping capability. The
new radar system was designated the Adverse
Weather Aerial Delivery System (AWADS). The
AWADS radar was further identified as the
AN/APQ-122(V)1, and it had the basic characteristics
required for the Combat Talon mission,
except that it did not have a TF/TA capability. TI
engineers, in conjunction with LAS Ontario, developed
the AN/APQ-122(V)8 radar for the Combat
Talon and incorporated the TF/TA function
into its operation. To help eliminate the reference
problems found in the AN/APQ-115, the new radar
was coupled with the Litton LN-15J inertial
navigation system (INS) that was tied to the Doppler
and the Loran C. The new INS provided
track, heading, and stabilization information that
was far superior to anything available earlier.*
After extensive testing, the USAF initially procured
the AN/APQ-122(V)8 for the four Heavy
Chain aircraft, and from 1970 to 1972, the radar
was also procured and installed in the 12 Combat
Talons. The AN/APQ-122 radar was part of a
sweeping modernization initiative for Combat
Talon that was identified as the MOD-70 program.
Many other system improvements were part of
this upgrade, including the dual navigator’s station
on the flight deck and an upgraded electronic
warfare/radio operator console in the cargo compartment.
To accommodate the dual-radar antenna
and the Fulton sky anchor, a new radome
was developed that had an elongated chin in the
lower front portion of the unit. The new radome
made the 12 Clamp Combat Talons unique and
physically different from all other C-130 aircraft.
The standard round nose found on the basic C-130
remained on the Heavy Chain non-Fulton aircraft
and on aircraft 64-0571 and 64-0572, which did
not have Fulton STARS installed. The distinctive
THE COMBAT TALON WEAPONS SYSTEM
nose radome adopted for the new radar during
the MOD-70 program remained on the Clamp
surface-to-air recovery aircraft from that time
forward.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, the AN/APQ-
122(V)8 radar remained virtually unchanged. Minor
system improvements were incorporated into
the radar, but no major modifications were made.
By the late 1980s the radar had aged nearly 20
years, and many of its subsystems were on the
verge of becoming nonsupportable. In the most
extensive follow-on upgrade to the Combat Talon
since 1970, the MOD-90 program was developed,
and an extensive radar upgrade was incorporated
into it. Beginning in the late 1980s, aircraft 64-0567
was dedicated to the MOD-90 program and was
designated the first Special Operations Forces–
Improved (SOF-I) aircraft. The SOF-I designation
was the interim identification for Combat Talons
having undergone the first phase of the MOD-90
conversion. SOF-I Phase I focused on upgrading the
navigational suite, but it also included installation
of the WJ-1840 (APR-46A) panoramic ECM receiver.
The aircraft went through perhaps the most
extensive test program ever developed for an already
operational system going through modification.
For more than two years, the 8th SOS provided
flight crews and support personnel dedicated
to the test effort. By the time Operation Just Cause
commenced in December 1989, aircraft 64-0567 had
completed its SOF-I operational test and evaluation
(OT&E), and the squadron commander chose it to
lead the airland assault into Rio Hato AB, Panama.
The long and often frustrating test program had
paid off. The next phase of the SOF-I program focused
on ECM upgrades, including the ALQ-172,
ALQ-196, and AAR-44. Aircraft 64-0565 was the
first full-up MOD-90 aircraft. So thorough was the
testing on 64-0567 that the first production aircraft
had few setbacks and was brought up to operational
status in minimal time.
* * * * * *
Back in 1965 TF/TA theory was little understood
by technicians outside the TI community.
Having received the contract to modify the four
Heavy Chain aircraft with the SPR-3 radar, LAS
Ontario set about building its own TF/TA expertise.
By 1966, when the company began modifying
Combat Talons with the AN/APQ-115 radar, their
technicians had advanced to a point that rivaled
__________
*Harry Pannill, Mike Connaughton, Rethel Jones, and John Gargus, along with eight Heavy Chain pilots and navigators, were the first crew
members to be trained on the new INS by Litton Industries at Menlow Park, California. The capabilities found in the LN-15J were “pure magic” to
the crew members and represented the most significant operational improvement for the Combat Talon since its creation in 1965.
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