In March 1968 it moved again to Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Navy Base.

On 1 August 1968 it was redesignated the 602nd Special Operations Squadron, and was inactivated on 31 December 1970 at Nakhon Phanom.

[citation needed] The squadron operated A-1 Skyraiders under the call sign "Firefly".

Their daylight task was the primary one of combat search and rescue of air crew downed in the Kingdom of Laos.

[1] At times, the squadron flew single ship sorties; they would also sometimes mark their own targets for their air strikes.