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SAMPLES OF BEHAVIOR
• # 3. Describe how airpower was used in Southeast Asia to
interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail (N. Vietnamese supply routes into
S. Vietnam)
• #4. Describe Rolling Thunder, Linebacker I & II (strategic
bombing campaigns against N. Vietnam)
• #5. Describe the uses and effectiveness of the B-52 in the
Vietnam conflict.
• #6. Describe and give an example of the tactical airlift mission
flown during Vietnam conflict
• #8. Describe the US Air Force’s Search and Recovery mission in
Vietnam
• #9. Identify the lessons learned from the Vietnam conflict.
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Uses of Airpower
Background
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Vietnam conflict was primarily a land war
• Most air power was used in conjunction with
ground ops
North stayed above DMZ, so air superiority over the
South was never a concern
In-country operations centered around
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Interdiction
Close Air Support (CAS)
Airlift
Reconnaissance
Search and Rescue (SAR)
Air-to-Air Refueling
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In-Country Air Operations
1964-73
• After Gulf of Tonkin, air units built up rapidly
• USAF occupied 10 major air bases
• All were built and defended by the Air Force
• Huge logistical effort
• USAF also flew from 6 bases in Thailand
• Navy flew from carriers in Gulf of Tonkin
• B-52s flew from Guam; at times even from the US
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Uses of Airpower during Vietnamization
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Train the South
Vietnamese Air Force
(VNAF)
Support the South
Vietnamese Army
Forestall suspected
enemy attacks against
withdrawing American
units
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Uses of Air Power
Interdiction
• A major mission during SEA war
• Aircraft used: F-4 Phantom, F-100 Super Sabre, F105 Thunderchief (Thud), AC-130 Gunships
• B-52 was the best known interdiction aircraft: a
nuclear bomber modified to carry conventional
weapons
• Arc Light - Name for B-52 interdiction missions
F-100 Supersabre
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Uses of Air Power
Close Air Support (CAS)
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Missions to support forces of the ground
Aircraft used: A-4 Skyhawk, F-4, F-100, A-37
Dragonfly, A-1 Skyraider, and AC-47 Gunships (Puff
the Magic Dragon)
Gunships (cargo aircraft armed with rapid-fire
machine guns) were very effective
Forward Air Controllers (FACs) were used to locate
the enemy and mark targets for faster flying jets
A-4 Skyhawk
A-1 Skyraider
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Uses of Air Power
Close Air Support (con’t)
B-52 Arc Light aircraft were occasionally used for
close air support
• Used extensively in close air support at Khe
Sanh
• Flew 2,548 sorties
• Dropped bombs within 300 yards of of US Marine
perimeter
• Credited with saving Khe Sanh and repelling the
Tet and Easter Offensives
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Uses of Air Power
Tactical Airlift
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Vital to successful US operations because of poor
security on roads
Aircraft used: UH-1 Hueys, C-7 Caribous,
C-123 Providers, C-130 Hercules
Missions often flown while under attack
Supplies often air-dropped because of enemy fire and
poor landing facilities
A major factor in keeping Khe Sanh alive
C-123 Provider
C-7 Caribou
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Uses of Air Power
Reconnaissance
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Aircraft used: RF-4C, RB-57 Canberra, and RB-66
Destroyers
Aircraft were equipped with variety of cameras
and sensing devices
Missions: locating lucrative targets and
assessing battle damage
A valuable part of repelling Tet and protecting
Khe Sanh
RB 57 Canberra
RB 66 Destroyer
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Uses of Air Power
Search and Rescue (SAR)
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An extremely important part of the air support
mission throughout Southeast Asia
Buttressed aircrew morale; fliers knew every
effort would be made to save them if shot
down
Aircraft used: HH-3 Jolly Green Giants and
HH-53 Super Jolly Greens
By 1973, USAF had rescued 3,883 Americans
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Uses of Air Power
Air-to-Air Refueling
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Indispensable - extended the range of combat aircraft
and enabled many aircraft to return safely
C-130s refueled helicopters, KC-135s refueled fixed
wing aircraft
SAC tankers flew 195,000 sorties, unloaded 9 billion
pounds of fuel, and took part in 814,000 individual
refuelings
C-130 Refueling
KC-135 Tanker
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Major Campaigns
Rolling Thunder
• Officially began 2 March 1965
• Objectives
• Interdict the flow of supplies from the North
• Force the North to stop supporting the
Vietcong and quit the war
• Raise South Vietnamese morale
RF 4 Phantom
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Major Campaigns
Rolling Thunder (con't)
• Strategic bombing and interdiction
campaign
• Strategic because it was aimed at the North’s will to wage
war
• Interdiction because the North had few large industries and
got most of their material from China and the Soviet Union
• Employed mostly tactical aircraft: F-105, F-4,
and F-111. In 1966, B-52s were used in the
Southern part of North Vietnam
F-111
F-105
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Major Campaigns
Rolling Thunder Restrictions
 Johnson administration controlled
campaign tightly
 Targets declared off limits by
civilians included:
• Targets in Hanoi, Haiphong, China
border area
• MIG bases and non-firing SAM sites
• Dams, dikes, hydroelectric plants
 White House selected targets,
weapons and flying routes with
little military input
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Major Campaigns
Rolling Thunder: Effect of Restrictions
 Graduated increases in bombing intensity
worked to advantage of North Vietnamese
• Gave them time to recover from damage
• Enabled them to establish the world’s most intense
antiaircraft defense system
• Provided them the will to fight on and a sense they
could survive
 By 1965, it was clear
that Rolling Thunder
didn’t work
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Major Campaigns
Rolling Thunder: Conclusions
 Impacts
• South’s morale improved as the North suffered under
the bombing
• North used frequent halts and restrictions to repair
damage and resupply forces in South
• Criticism grew at home and internationally
 Johnson ended Rolling Thunder prior to 1968
elections
 Rolling Thunder campaign, America’s
longest, was a failure
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Major Campaigns
Linebacker I
• Easter Offensive (Mar 1972) made it
apparent the North was not willing to
negotiate
• Objectives of Linebacker I
• Initially a close air support effort to aid retreating
South Vietnamese forces
• Later, changed to an interdiction campaign against
B 52 Stratofortress
North Vietnam
• A systematic campaign
with little civilian control,
unlike Rolling Thunder
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Major Campaigns
Linebacker I (con’t)
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Civilian casualties a consideration but didn’t
determine how missions were flown
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Haiphong harbor mined for the first time to restrict
delivery of supplies to the North
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Strikes flown over Hanoi and Haiphong
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B-52 strikes on Haiphong began April 1972
“Smart bombs” used extensively
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Major Campaigns
Linebacker I Successes
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Linebacker I was the most successful US bombing
campaign of the war
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Had more impact on the North Vietnam in 9
months than Rolling Thunder did in 4 years
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Successful largely because Easter Offensive was a
conventional, mechanized attack
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Peace Talks resumed in July 1972
• Nixon restricted Linebacker I attacks to below the 20th
parallel
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Major Campaigns
Linebacker II
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Peace Talks stalled again in
Dec 1972
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Nixon ordered Linebacker II
to run concurrently with
Linebacker I
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Purpose of Linebacker II was
to force the North
Vietnamese to negotiate and
sign a peace treaty
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Ran from 18 Dec to 30 Dec
1972 - referred to as the
“Christmas Campaign”
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Major Campaigns
Linebacker II (con’t)
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Very intense and logistically complex
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Specific targets in Hanoi and Haiphong
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B-52s used for the first time over Hanoi
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By the end of Linebacker II, North
Vietnam was defenseless
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1,200 SAMs were fired
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80% of the North’s electrical
systems and 25% of their
POL facilities were destroyed
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Major Campaigns
Linebacker II Results
• North Vietnam returned to the bargaining table
on 30 Dec 1972
• All bombing ceased on 15 Jan 1973
• Peace treaty was signed on 27 Jan 1973
• Linebacker II was a success
• Some believe that if Rolling Thunder had
been conducted like Linebacker II, the
war would have ended in 1965 - unlikely
http://www.davka.org/what/theleft/peoplespeacetreatyvietnam.html
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Interim Summary
• Uses of Airpower
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Rolling Thunder
Linebacker I
Linebacker II
Vietnam Service Medal
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Post
Vietnam
Vietnam Conflict Results
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US reluctance to enter military conflicts that
don’t directly threaten national interests
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Congressional restriction on President’s
ability to commit US military forces
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Lowered public opinion of the government and
the military
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The all-volunteer military force
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Increased emphasis on military resources,
training, and weapons
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Results for Southeast Asia
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North Vietnam and South Vietnam joined into one
country dominated by the North Vietnamese
communists
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Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City
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Exodus of boat people, many to America
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Hundreds of thousands of US supporters sent to
"reeducation" camps
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Over 6.5 million displaced Vietnamese war refugees
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Expected postwar blood bath never materialized.
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The Vietnam Conflict
Lessons Learned
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US can’t win a counterinsurgency war in another
country; only the people of that country can
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Force and technology of limited value in a
“people’s war”
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Realistic assessments by national leaders required
before forces are committed
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“Know your enemy and know yourself”
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“Graduated Response” is an ineffective way to
employ air power
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The Vietnam War
Lessons Learned (con’t)
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In a democracy, congressional and
public support are critical and difficult
to get
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Modern war is open to public scrutiny
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Let those who understand war
conduct it
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We need revolutionary technology, not
evolutionary
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We need precision munitions
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Next Week
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Questions?
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Next Week: Chapters 16 & 17
Reminder: Memos are Due!
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