page_title: Puerto Rico Air National Guard
section_title: 1981 Muñiz Air National Guard Base attack
hierarchical_section_title: Puerto Rico Air National Guard / 1981 Muñiz Air National Guard Base attack
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. Vought A-7D Corsair II aircraft (s/n 70-1050) from the 198th TFS, 156th TFG, Puerto Rico Air National Guard, in flight on 15 October 1981. 1972: Aircraft delivered to 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, Nellis AFB, NV (c/n D-196) Transferred to 198th Tactical Fighter Squadron, PR Air National Guard, 1979 Destroyed by terrorist attack on Muniz Air National Guard Base Jan 12, 1981
context_page_description: The Puerto Rico Air National Guard —Spanish: Guardia Nacional Aérea de Puerto Rico— is the aerial militia of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States of America. It is, along with the Puerto Rico Army National Guard and the Puerto Rico State Guard, an element of the Puerto Rico National Guard. After beginning as four units, the PRANG expanded to 11 units by the 1980s, including the 1956th Tactics Combat Group, the 140th Radar Squadron and others.
  As commonwealth militia units, the units in the Puerto Rico Air National Guard are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command. They are under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Puerto Rico though the office of the Puerto Rico Adjutant General unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States. The Puerto Rico Air National Guard is headquartered at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and commanded by Brigadier General Wayne A. Zimmet.
context_section_description: On 12 January 1981, the Boricua Popular Army (Ejército Popular Boricua), a Puerto Rican separatist organization, carried out multiple bombings at the Muñiz Air National Guard Base.  At the time, it was the largest attack on U.S. military forces since the Vietnam War. The attack was timed to coincide with the birthday of the Puerto Rican independence advocate Eugenio María de Hostos.  The attack caused approximately $45,000,000 in damages to ten A-7D aircraft and a single F-104. It was carried out by eleven commandos of the Popular Army of Puerto Rico, also known as "The Macheteros." The base was home to eighteen A-7D and one F-104 aircraft.
  Eleven saboteurs, disguised in military uniforms, penetrated the security fence and infiltrated the A-7 parking ramp through a hole cut in the perimeter chain link fence. Investigators believe that some, if not all, arrived near the ramp in a boat guided along a nearby channel. The operation occurred during a shift change of the base security, which was provided by both contracted civilian guards and uniformed Air National Guard Security Policemen. The perpetrators exited the area the same way they came in, using the entry point as the exit point. Choosing to strike at shift change indicates the possibility of prior surveillance or insider information. The commandos placed approximately 25 explosive devices on the aircraft.
  The planes were destroyed using individual satchels containing four sticks of Iremite (an emulsion explosive) with detonators and incendiary charges. They were time-delayed using a simple watch and battery combination.
  The explosives were stolen from a Puerto Rican explosives factory, with the theft traced back to the Boricua Popular Army. The AFOSI (United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations) called the explosives "sophisticated". It was estimated that the entire operation took less than eight minutes to complete. Officials expressed concern as to how a group of semiskilled intruders were able to inflict severe damage to mission capability.
  Press coverage was substantial at the time of the incident, but died down quickly. This was the first peacetime incident in which USAF aircraft were destroyed by a domestic act, and the first time separatists had attacked a USAF installation on US soil. It was the greatest material loss from any single attack perpetrated against the USAF anywhere in the world. The National Guard Bureau (NGB) was aware of the shortfalls in security at Muñiz ANG Base, and of the threat, yet corrective actions had not been implemented at the time. The bombings resulted in the implementation of more strict security protocols and systems around the perimeter of the base. It was also determined that an increase in security personnel was in order raising the number to 22 guards, up from 11, funded entirely by the federal government, as well as electric devices added to the fence.
  Destroyed aircraft were A-7D AF Serial Numbers 72-0189; 72-0219; 72-0221; 72-0222; 73-0994; 73-1050; 74-1748, and 74-1755.  The sole F-104C, of a Mission Design Series previously flown by the PRANG, was a non-flyable aircraft destined to be a permanent memorial static display.
caption: An A-7D Corsair II of the 198th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 156th Tactical Fighter Group in flight prior to the 12 January 1981 attack. This was one of the destroyed aircraft.
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