[67][s] With the assistance of the Soviet Union, the North Vietnamese had also quickly integrated an early warning radar system of more than 200 facilities which covered the entire country, tracking incoming U.S. raids, and then coordinating SAMs, anti-aircraft batteries, and MiGs to attack them. At first, the strikes appeared highly successful, destroying tank farms near Hanoi and Haiphong and leading the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to estimate that 70 percent of North Vietnam's oil facilities had been destroyed for the loss of 43 aircraft. Audio recordings and transcripts with comments of actual Wild Weasel combat missions over Vietnam. There was widespread concern that an air campaign could lead to a wider conflict involving the Chinese or Soviets. Chief of Naval Operations David McDonald reported to his co-chiefs after a trip to South Vietnam in September 1966, that Rolling Thunder aircrews were angered with the targeting process and that they faulted the campaign due to "guidelines requiring repetitive air programs that seemed more than anything else to benefit enemy gunners. What was the outcome of Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965? Supported by its communist allies, the Soviet Union and China, North Vietnam fielded a potent mixture of MiG fighter-interceptor jets and sophisticated air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons that created one of the most effective air defenses ever faced by American military aviators. The first is hcw the Ame ican policy-making 3 ,.,tam perceived the problem. [101] In February 1968, McNamara resigned his position and was replaced by Clark Clifford, who was chosen because of his personal friendship with Johnson and his previous opposition to McNamara's suggestions that the number of troops in the South Vietnam be stabilized and that Rolling Thunder be ended. [109] They were correct. [90] As a result, operations against the last of North Vietnam's airfields, previously off-limits to attack, were authorized. 275277; Morocco, pps. They were motivated by slogans like "Each kilogram of goodsis a bullet shot into the head of the American pirates. [14] They reasoned that a small nation like North Vietnam, with a tiny industrial base that was just emerging after the First Indochina War, would be reluctant to risk its new-found economic viability to support the insurgency in the south. [59][p] Conversely, the Navy tended to maintain its aircrews within the same community for the duration of their careers, thereby retaining their expertise, but also incurring greater losses among experienced crews undergoing multiple combat tours. [57] Air Force Chief of Staff John P. McConnell also opposed sending the bombers into the air defense environment in the north and limited B-52 strikes to Route Package One. [78], The nature of the gradual escalation had given Hanoi time to adapt to the situation. The MiGs made fast and devastating attacks against US formations from several directions (usually the MiG-17s performed head-on attacks and the MiG-21s attacked from the rear). [55] Lack of adequate all-weather and night-bombing capability made it necessary for the majority of U.S. missions to be conducted during daylight hours, thereby easing the burden on the air defense forces of North Vietnam. Rusk proposed limiting the campaign to the panhandle of North Vietnam without preconditions and awaiting Hanoi's reaction. Preliminary discussions began in Paris in May but bogged down over trivial issues. Of these, 107 (56 percent) were forced to jettison their bombs. McNamara, pps. Drew 1986; Van Staaveren, p. 46; Tilford, p. 93. [34] For the first time in the campaign, targets were to be chosen for their military, rather than their psychological, significance. This also meant the SAM site's tracking radar could be turned off, which prevented Shrikes from homing in on it. The SA-2 had greater range than the Shrike, but if the Shrike was launched and the radar operator stayed on the air, the American missile would home in on the signal and destroy the radar source. The American military had advocated such strikes since the inception of the operation, believing that to deny North Vietnam its POL would cause its military effort to grind to a halt. [50] The U.S. Seventh/Thirteenth Air Force, based in Thailand (which carried out the majority of the Air Force's strikes in North Vietnam), had a dual command structure. It should be self-evident that in order to moun Continue Reading Operation Rolling Thunder was a gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the United States (U.S.) 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from 2 March 1965 until 2 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.. In Clausewitzian terms, Rolling Thunder failed because it was not an effective political instrumentit did not achieve its stated goal of compelling the North Vietnamese to do our will. Sometimes the opposite is true and these communities turn into all-out cults. [108], Hanoi, which had continuously stipulated that it would not conduct negotiations while the bombing continued, finally agreed to meet with the Americans for preliminary talks in Paris. [72] When the nation's transportation system came under attack, destroyed bridges were repaired or replaced by dirt fords, ferries, and underwater or pontoon bridges. [65], Since gaining air superiority over U.S. forces was out of the question, the northern leadership decided to implement a policy of air deniability. For various reasonsincluding fear of provoking a confrontation with North Vietnam's Russian and Chinese alliesall sorts of restrictions and constraints were imposed. These anti-aircraft guns were lethal at close range, the Vietnamese shot down six aircraft, and more than half of the remaining U.S aircraft suffered damage from groundfire. June 17, 2022 . If the aircraft fired one, the Shrike could be neutralized with the side-pointing technique without sacrificing any SA-2s. "[24], It was believed that selective pressure, controlled by Washington, combined with diplomatic overtures, would prevail and compel Hanoi to end its aggression. U.S aircraft flew at an altitude of 45 kilometers, and the Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns were unable to reach them. Described by historians as an anatomical failure, Operation Rolling Thunder seemed almost destined to fail. The military men could not back down. They also introduced a passive guidance mode, whereby the tracking radar could lock on the jamming signal itself and guide missiles directly towards the jamming source. [48][j] Air Force aircrews had flown 25,971 sorties and dropped 32,063 tons of bombs. The great conundrum had then become how to defeat North Vietnam without defeating North Vietnam. The Americans were shocked when six of their aircraft were shot down during the mission. [22], These actions led to the plans for a sustained air campaign being reconsidered. In March 1964 the Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) began developing plans for a sustained eight-week air campaign designed to escalate in three stages. [86], While F-105s did score 27 air-to-air victories, the overall exchange ratio was near parity. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". It lasted much longer than expected and resulted not only in the loss of military significance for the United States but also damaged the reputation of its leaders as the protectors of democratic values and freedoms in general. U.S.:1,054 killed, wounded or captured[3] [122] Sortie rates and the number of bombs dropped, however, equaled efficiency, not effectiveness. Operation Rolling Thunder - March 1965-November 1968 Ordered by US President Lyndon Johnson Operation Rolling Thunder was designed to convince North Vietnam to halt support of the communist forces in South Vietnam without the use of ground forces. Westmoreland referred to "an almost paranoid fear of nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union" and a "phobia" that the Chinese would invade. According to U.S. Air Force historian Earl Tilford: Targeting bore little resemblance to reality in that the sequence of attacks was uncoordinated and the targets were approved randomly even illogically. U.S. Department of State, p. 60. Considered a failure, because it did not discourage the North from continuing it's war against the South . Attainment of these objectives was made difficult by both the restraints imposed upon the U.S. and its allies by Cold War exigencies, and the military aid and assistance received by North Vietnam from its communist allies, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and North Korea. The cyclical monsoon patterns meant that the weather was deplorable for flight operations eight months of the year (from late September to early May) when rain and fog tended to conceal targets. What did Operation Rolling Thunder do in North Vietnam? The answer seemed to lie in the application of air power. The Operation was borne out of President Johnson 's desire to stop North Vietnamese resistance, cut off their supplies and bring them to the negotiation table. [33], Navy strikes were launched from the aircraft carriers of Task Force 77, cruising off the North Vietnamese coast at Yankee Station. Fighters had only to defend a 90-degree arc in front of the strike force, SAM exposure was more limited, and coastal targets made the shorter distances of search and rescue operations more conducive to success. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. These small-scale operations were launched against the southern region of the country, where the bulk of North Vietnam's ground forces and supply dumps were located. Head, p. 23. [118], Due to combat and operational circumstances, 506 USAF, 397 Navy and 19 Marine Corps aircraft were lost over or near North Vietnam. General John W. Vogt Jr., commander of the Seventh Air Force, reported to the USAF Chief of Staff that they were losing the air war. [30], Although some of these restrictions were later loosened or rescinded, Johnson (with McNamara's support) kept a tight rein on the campaign, which continuously infuriated the American military commanders, right-wing members of Congress, and even some within the administration itself. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. why did operation rolling thunder fail. These command and control complexities grew even more tangled with the division of the aerial effort into four competing operational areas (those in South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and Laos (both north and south). About one-third of the North's imports came down the HanoiLo Cai railway from China, while the remaining two-thirds came by sea through Haiphong and other ports. MiG-21 intercepts of F-105 strike groups were effective in downing US aircraft or forcing them to jettison their bomb loads. [l] The chain through which operational strike requests had to flow gave some indication of the growing overcomplexity of the campaign. "Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam", " "", "", - - - ", "Vietnamese Aces - MiG-17 and MiG-21 pilots", "Vietnamese Aces MiG-17 and MiG-21 pilots", "An Appraisal of the Bombing of North Vietnam 1 July - 31 October 1968", "Estimated Casualties in North Vietnam Resulting From the Rolling Thunder Program", "Civilian Casualties Resulting from ROLLING THUNDER Program in North Vietnam", "Effects of the Rolling Thunder Program: Bomb Damage, Civilian Casualties, And Morale in North Vietnam", "An Assessment of the Rolling Thunder Program Through December 1967", "414Th Combat Training Squadron "Red Flag", United States Army Center of Military History, "Declassified CIA documents concerning Operation Rolling Thunder". - Approved on February 24, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson, implementation was delayed until March 2, 1965. By 1967, the North Vietnamese Air Force was maintaining an interceptor force of 100 aircraft, many of which were based on Chinese airfields and out of reach of American air attack. Food shortages in North Vietnam became widespread, especially in the urban areas, as rice farmers went into the military or volunteered for service repairing bomb damage. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. The higher rate of anti-aircraft artillery is partially caused by the fact gun units received data from the S-75 radar stations that significantly improved their effectiveness. [102] McNamara's position, however, was almost immediately taken up by Secretary of State Dean Rusk, until then an ardent advocate of the bombing campaign. But matters came to a head with the attack on Camp Holloway on 7 February 1965, which demanded immediate action, and resulted in a reprisal raid known as Operation Flaming Dart. In November 1965, bombing in the area abutting the DMZ (Route Package One) was handed over to Westmoreland as part of the "extended battlefield." The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". [32], The majority of strikes during Rolling Thunder were launched from four air bases, in Thailand: Korat, Takhli, Udorn, and Ubon. They continuously claimed that the campaign was working, yet they also had to continuously demand greater latitude in order to make the campaign succeed. Motivated by politics alone, the United States interfered with a smaller states' freedom from . [n], Once air-to-air combat began over North Vietnam, the Air Force was again found lacking. [121], Along the way, Rolling Thunder also fell prey to the same dysfunctional managerial attitude as did the rest of the American military effort in Southeast Asia. Operation rolling thunder failed as the VC ( vietcong . Two more hours produced an operational site. Morocco, p. 142. Also included in the missions were KC-135 aerial tankers and Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopters, which were, in turn, protected by propeller-driven A-1 escorts. This "guerrilla warfare in the air" proved very successful. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". [t] In the end, this erratic course satisfied no one and did little to alter the course of the war. Operation Rolling Thunder was a demonstration of America's near total air supremacy during the Vietnam War. [3][4] During the operation, of the 745 crewmen shot down, the USAF recorded 145 rescued, 255 killed, 222 captured (23 of whom died in captivity) and 123 missing. Since the AGM-45 Shrike was a relatively primitive anti-radiation missile, it would follow the beam away from the radar and then simply crash when it lost the signal (after the radar was turned off). The civilians thought in terms of changing the regime's behavior while the military men were more concerned with breaking its will. By the beginning of 1965, the policy was reversed in the belief that without further American action the Saigon government could not survive.
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