Members of the 35
3rd Special Operations Group, Kadena AB, Japan, recently honored the eight US service members killed during Operation Eagle Claw—best known as Desert One—the April 24, 1980, failed attempt to rescue American hostages from the American Embassy in Tehran. (Read our 1999 article here.) Col. Raymond Chapman, group commander, told attendees at a base ceremony, “Looking back today, I see that Operation Eagle Claw may have been a tactical failure, but it was a strategic success.” That failed rescue, said Chapman, helped make special operations the force it is today. Following Desert One, the Pentagon created US Special Operations Command.
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
