From: Allen Thomson ([email protected])
Subject: COBRA TALON, COBRA SPOT
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military, sci.space.history
Date: 2003-12-09 10:44:16 PST

Some time ago I noted that http://www.aia.af.mil/homepages/ho/70s-2.cfm says,

  The 6300th Support Squadron (later redesignated 6300th Aerospace
  Support Squadron) was activated at Ko Kha, Thailand, on 1 July
  1971 to support Cobra Talon.

and asked, inter alia, what Cobra Talon is/was.

Some possible light on Cobra Talon now comes from

  http://www.dposs.com/k9/t_kokha.htm
  Ko Kha
  Royal Thai Air Station

  Ko Kha is on the Bangkok-Chiengmai railway and at the junction
  of highways to Chieng Mai and Chiang Rai. A small Royal Thai
  Air Station  was the location of a radar station for the
  Spacetrack System. The station tracked People's Republic of
  China missile launches and southerly launches from the Soviet
  Union from Sep 1971�May 1976. No Security Police military
  working dogs were ever assigned.

  Links of Interest To Non-VSPA Internet Pages

  17 Space Surveillance Squadron  Sep 1971�31 May 1976



That link 404s, but, happily, this one doesn't:

http://afhra.maxwell.af.mil/wwwroot/rso/squadrons_flights_pages/0017spss.html


  17th Space Surveillance Squadron

  Lineage

  Constituted 17th Surveillance Squadron, and activated, on 1 Nov
  1966. Organized on 1 Jan 1967. Inactivated on 31 Dec 1969.
  Redesignated 17th Radar Squadron on 20 May 1971. Activated on 1
  Sep 1971. Inactivated on 31 May 1976. Redesignated 17th
  Surveillance Squadron on 28 Dec 1981. Activated on 1 Aug 1982.
  Inactivated on 1 Jun 1989. Redesignated 17th Space Surveillance
  Squadron on 25 Oct 1993. Activated on 15 Nov 1993.

  Assignments

  Air Defense Command, 1 Nov 1966; 73d Aerospace Surveillance
  Wing, 1 Jan 1967�31 Dec 1969. Fourteenth Aerospace Force, 1 Sep
  1971�31 May 1976. 3d Air Division, 1 Aug 1982; 1st Space Wing,
  1 May 1983�1 Jun 1989. 73d Space Group, 15 Nov 1993�.


  Stations

  Moorestown, NJ, 1 Jan 1967�31 Dec 1969. Ko Kha RTAS, Thailand,
  1 Sep 1971�31 May 1976. San Miguel, Philippines, 1 Aug 1982�1
  Jun 1989. Edzell AFD, Scotland, 15 Nov 1993� .


  Aircraft

  None.


  Operations

  Operated a radar sensor for the USAF Spacetrack System, Nov 1967
  �Dec 1969. Tracked People's Republic of China missile launches
  and southerly launches from the Soviet Union, Sep 1971�May 1976.
  Provided low-altitude space surveillance, Aug 1982�May 1989.
  Operated sensors for the Low-Altitude Space Surveillance System,
  Nov 1993�.

  Honors

  Service Streamers. None.

  Campaign Streamers. None.

  Armed Forces Expeditionary Streamers. None.

  Decorations. Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards: 14 Sep 1973�
  17 Feb 1975; 1 Aug 1982�31 Jul 1983.


But there is no rest for the weary, and in looking around for Cobra Talon, I found a list of names,

http://www.dior.whs.mil/peidhome/guide/mn02/WEAPON-CODE-SEARCH.PDF

that includes COBRA SPOT along with better-known USAF COBRAs.

I never heard of Cobra Spot; anybody here know about it?