The Combat Talon was gone, already lost in the night.
The Combat Talon crossed into Iraqi airspace, then turned north along the Iranian border.
The Combat Talons are being replaced with C-145A aircraft which have already arrived at Duke Field.
For heavier loads and longer distances, there is the Combat Talon, a modified cargo plane that needs only 750 feet of rudimentary runway to land.
The Combat Talon now flew in an ocean of false targets, dazzling radar pulses and blinding electronic noise.
One of the Combat Talon's greatest assets was its highly advanced forward-looking infrared imager and its terrain-following radar.
Bolan watched as a radar-guided missile flew by underneath the Combat Talon as it lost lock and exploded into the sand ahead.
The Combat Talon I designations were consolidated in 1977 as the MC-130 and have remained under that designation since.
The Combat Talon I first saw operational action in the Vietnam War, beginning September 1, 1966.
But the Combat Talons have become a vital means of ferrying Special Operations forces into hostile territory.