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PART TWO                      LESSONS LEARNED

A. OBSERVATION: The SCNS modified aircraft proved their worth. This was
the  perfect terrain environment for their employment. Tbe lack of geo-
graphical pointS and navigation aids made the  SCNS exactly what was needed.
A SCNs wih GBS update would be ideal for tbe desert environment.

RECOMMENDATION:  Continue to modify all C-l3O aircraft with SCNS.
acquisition  of a portable style GPS would greatly enhance the ability and
precision of navigating to an isolated drop zone. At least consider ac-
quiring a small number of GPS sets to use with lead aircraft.

B.  OBSERVATION: MAC C-l30s have no self-protection capability. Flight
decks had no armor plate and crews did not possess adequate personal pro-
tection. Aircrews often used the "old style" flak jacket to sit on (not
comfortable) and some crew members wore the flak jacket under the survival
vest - this was cumbersome and made it difficult to quickly react. While
the Army did an admirable job of sweeping our ingress routes, there is
 always a  real possibiIity tbat some threats may have been missed.

RECOMMENDATION:  Develop a lightweight armor plating for C-130s that
can be locally attached when the situation requires. Acquire state-of-the
art Kevlar-type body armor for aircrews to use. Investigate combining a
survival  vest with a flak vest as one piece.

C. OBSERVATION: Communication required onboard equipment which was
often unusable or not installed.   Some aircrews were unfamiliar with the
equipment and often confused about which codes to use.

[(b)(1)sec(b)(4)]

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