-T-

T-72 –
Main battle tank for Soviet forces through the 1970s and early 1980s.

Tall Man –
Nukhayb, Iraq has the distinction of detecting the opening shots of DESERT STORM. They had Chinese made Tall Man radar sites. They knew something was up when their radar installations exploded and Baghdad found out their radar net had failed when the F-117 Nighthawks attacked their targets.

Tank –
My term for the Pentagon War Room.

TAO –
Tactical action officer controls the ship's weapons and sensors and directs the movements of the ship, other support vessels, and aircraft. The TAO also monitors the movements and actions of friendly and enemy ships, planes, missiles, and submarines in the region. The TAO integrates this information in real time to form a dynamic tactical picture, select appropriate responses, and issue orders.

Terror of Tehran -
Michael Rehazi received a marvelous education while a student in the Shah’s Iran. He had the privilege to attend the American Top Gun School as a member of the Iranian Imperial Air Force. As a member of the IIAF, he spied on his fellow pilots for the SAVAK. Once the Shah was swept away, he joined the revolutionary forces and came under the protection of Ayatollah Kambiz Abbasi. He led a one of the “student revolutionary” groups when Tehran’s American Embassy was overrun in 1979. In order to survive, Rehazi became one with the revolutionary guards and assisted SAVAK remnants in repenting of their “sinful” past in the new Islamic Republic.

The Guys -
Trade name for the MOSSAD’s Metsada (Special Operations Division). These are the people who provide dirt naps for Israel’s enemies, including Gerald Bull (see Babylon Gun), Mordechai Vanunu (an ex-patriot who liked to talk) and the botched attempt on Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal. In recent years, the Israeli government has pulled the MOSSAD’s teeth in the face of bad press coverage and very public failures. However, the al Qaeda attack on Jewish targets in Kenya on December 1, 2002 has changed the rules. Multiple sources report the Israeli government has renewed The Guys’ hunting license and the target is al Qaeda.

Tomahawk –
Long range, subsonic cruise missile used for land attack warfare, launched from surface ships and submarines. Block II uses an Inertial Navigation System (INS) aided by Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) and Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC). Block III adds a Global Positioning Satellite guidance capability to the existing Block II guidance systems. Radar detection of the missile is extremely difficult because of the small radar cross-section and low altitude flight profile.

Speed: Subsonic

Range: 870+ nautical miles

Warhead: Various packages

TOW –
The Tank Offensive Weapon is a tube launched, optically tracked, wire guided tank killing missile. It is a dumb weapon that requires a line-of-sight to the target.

TRUMPET 3 –
Fourth generation ELINT satellite launched into HEO by USAF on November 8, 1997. ELINT/SIGINT targets include radar, radio, microwave, cellular, missile telemetry and basically anything else that generates a frequency.

Douglas De Bono / DouglasDeBono.Com Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota E-Mail readermail@DouglasDeBono.Com