The unit was redesignated and reactivated as the 498th Tactical Missile Group at
Kadena Air Base,
Okinawa, on 16 September 1960. It was organized on 8 Feb 1961. It was equipped with the
TM-76B Mace surface-to-surface missile. The Mace was a third-generation tactical USAF missile, a follow-up of the
MGM-1 Matador which had been developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s from the World War II-era
Republic-Ford JB-2. Two of the unit's World War II bomb squadrons were reactivated, the 873d and 874th Tactical Missile Squadrons to man and operate the missile sites. The Group was assigned directly to
Pacific Air Forces. The four group Mace sites were located at
Bolo Point in
Yomitan,
Onna Point,
White Beach, and in
Kin just north of
Camp Hansen. The presence of the Mace missile was a sensitive matter between the United States and Japan, even though the United States still formally occupied Okinawa. The presence of the nuclear-armed Mace missile on Japanese soil was considered so sensitive that Secretary of Defense
Robert S. McNamara directed in early 1962 that the existence of the TM-76B weapons system on Okinawa "was not to be publicized in any way." McNamara directed that the "missile, warhead section, and nose sections be transported to and from the launch sites under a canvas cover." Fearing political maneuvering and protests from Communist sympathizers on Okinawa and in Japan, the 498th TMG was directed to be "identified by initials only." In 1962 a failure in communication could have started a nuclear war. This statement is unsupported by factual information at this time. A single individual alleges this fact, without documentation, and the reference above simply repeats his story. It is an ongoing dialog, with the facts in dispute. The group's existence was short, as in 1965, Secretary McNamara decided that the Army's
MGM-31 Pershing missile should replace the USAF's Mace, mainly because of the Pershing's high-speed launch ability. The unit was inactivated on 8 July 1969, and the missiles returned to the United States and were expended as full-size target drones.
Air Force Historical Research Agency records give the final formal date of inactivation as 31 December 1969. ==21st century==