[6] The Combat Talon was developed between December 1964 and January 1967 by Lockheed Air Services (LAS) at Ontario, California, as the result of a study by Big Safari, the USAF's program office that modifies and sustains special mission aircraft.

[10] Discrete modification tests were conducted by the 1198th Operational Evaluation and Training Squadron, out of Area II of Norton AFB at San Bernardino, California, 30 miles east of Ontario.

[26][27] The aircraft received for modification as Combat Talons were assigned in July 1965 to the 464th Troop Carrier Wing at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina.

In Vietnam, the aircraft was used to drop leaflets over North Vietnamese positions, and to insert and resupply special forces and indigenous units into hostile territory throughout Southeast Asia.

The same year, a Combat Talon of the 1st Special Operations Wing was deployed in support of US Marines forces on Koh Tang island during the Mayaguez incident, dropping a single BLU-82 6,800 kg (15,000 lb) bomb to enable their extraction.

[45] At that time only seven Combat Talons had the in-flight refueling capability necessary for the mission, which was to be mounted out of either Egypt or Diego Garcia (Masirah Island did not become available as a base until April 1980).

Talon crews using night vision goggles practiced blacked-out landings to insert Delta Force operators and U.S. Army Rangers deep into Iran, and developed several methods for delivering extra fuel for the US Navy RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters chosen to carry out the rescued hostages.

[49] The Talon crews also manned three borrowed EC-130E ABCCC aircraft configured to carry 68,100 L (18,000 U.S. gal) of jet fuel in six collapsible bladders for refueling the helicopters.

[51] The first phase of the rescue mission began the evening of 24 April, led by Lt Col Robert L. Brenci of the 8th SOS in Talon 64-0565, Dragon 1.

To compound the lack of surprise, the U.S. Department of State, apparently in a good faith but inept diplomatic gesture, contacted Cuban authorities and compromised the mission, further alerting the defenses, including a dozen ZU-23-2 antiaircraft guns.

Mall, Jr., aboard as a passenger, combat-dropped runway clearing teams from the Ranger Battalions on the airport, despite being targeted by a searchlight and under heavy AAA fire.

[72] One of the measures considered for a second hostage rescue attempt in Iran was a project to develop a "Super STOL" aircraft, to be flown by Combat Talon crews, that would use a soccer stadium near the US Embassy as an improvised landing field.

Called Credible Sport, the project acquired three C-130H transports from an airlift unit in late August 1980, one as a test bed and two for the mission, and quickly modified them.

Phase I testing, conducted between 24 August and 11 November 1981, identified design deficiencies in the airframe and determined that the Credible Sport configuration did not have the safety margins necessary for peacetime operations.

[79] The first Combat Talon II, 83-1212, was delivered in June 1984, but an earlier decision by USAF not to equip it with the navigational radar suite of the MC-130E slowed its development for years.

The resulting radar performed so poorly that the Combat Talon II was nearly cancelled, but special operations advocates in Congress kept the program alive.

Ultimately the AN/APQ-170(V)8 radar was developed into a system that exceeded specifications, but at a large cost overrun and with a further three-year delay in the Combat Talon II becoming operational.

These new technologies allow the Combat Talon II to fly as low as 250 feet (76 m) above ground level (AGL) in inclement weather, and make faster, more accurate airdrops.

Special operations forces were deployed to Liberia to assist in the evacuation of 2000 civilians from the American embassy when the country broke down into civil war.

[93] A month later, two MC-130Hs, flying from Masirah Island, inserted a platoon of U.S. Navy SEAL Team Three and four Humvee vehicles to within ten miles of the same airfield on the night of 20–21 November.

The insertion profile consisted of a four and one-half-hour low level flight at night through western and northern Iraq to Bashur and Sulaymaniyah airfields, often taking heavy ground fire from the integrated air defenses.

[100] The Talon IIs, at emergency gross weight limits, operated blacked-out, employed chaff and electronic countermeasures, flew as low as 100 ft (30 m) AGL, and carried their troops tethered to the floor of the cargo holds.

[118] In September 2010, the Air Force awarded a $61 million contract to L-3 Communications to give a gunship-like attack capability to eight MC-130W Combat Spear special-mission aircraft.

At least two studies were conducted or proposed to explore the prospect of a replacement aircraft (known variously as "MC-X" or "M-X"), with USAF at that time hoping for an Initial Operating Capability date of 2018.

In November 1992, the wreckage was located near the peak of a mountain 32 mi (51 km) northeast of Dien Bien Phu, and it was surmised that its descent was too steep for its TF/TA radar to stabilize.

An F-102 Delta Dagger of the South Carolina Air National Guard, attempting a night intercept of the Talon, flew into the fuel drop tank on its right wing, with the loss of both aircraft, killing all 12 aboard the C-130E(I).

[142] Former Heavy Chain and Desert One veteran 64-0564 crashed into the ocean shortly after a pre-dawn takeoff from NAS Cubi Point, Philippines, on 26 February 1981, killing 15 passengers and eight of nine crewmen.

During a night exfiltration mission of two Special Forces soldiers from a landing strip at the Sardeh Band dam, the Talon crashed less than three miles from the airstrip shortly after takeoff.

[146] Combat Talon II 90-0161, also of the 15th SOS, crashed into Monte Perucho, south of Caguas, Puerto Rico, during a training mission on 7 August 2002, killing all ten aboard.

The Talon was flying a terrain-following night mission in blowing rain and fog, along a low level route commonly used by the Puerto Rico Air National Guard.