[63] Statistics, however, proved no substitute for strategy and, "for all the perceived success in that numbers game, the Air Force succeeded only in fooling itself into believing that Commando Hunt was working.

The story begins following the 1954 Geneva Accords, which divided Vietnam into two states. During Udorn meeting last Saturday, 2 I had my staff give Generals Westmoreland and Momyer a briefing on operation Commando Lava, which we have been conducting in Laos. The result was Island Tree the launching of a personnel anti-infiltration effort during Commando Hunt VII. But in the 1960s, the United States began to look seriously at mud—yes, mud—as a way of preventing the North Vietnamese from sneaking soldiers and equipment into South Vietnam. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Both of these threats tended to force off B-52 and tactical air strikes. Step-by-step answer. Commando Hunt provided the figures that sated that appetite. However, the same message also noted, emphasis added: “We cannot determine at [the Seventh Air Force] level whether the concept itself is really a dead issue.”. In addition to Project Popeye, the Air Force initiated Operation Commando Lava in 1967—another colorfully-titled effort to create artificially muddy conditions along the trail. [20] The operation was deemed a success, but locating and targeting enemy troops moving toward a fixed location like Khe Sanh was not the same as doing it on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The North Vietnamese government sought to reunify the country under communist leadership, and proceeded to arm and supply a guerrilla movement in South Vietnam. By the time of the opening of Commando Hunt VI, that figure had decreased to 1,199 aircraft and this number dropped to 953 before that phase was completed; Second, this state of affairs was exacerbated by the withdrawal of sorties to conduct missions for Operation Freedom Deal in Cambodia.[53]. [57] During the campaign, however, ominous signs appeared in the mountains of Laos. During Commando Hunt III (1 November 1969 to 30 April 1970), the Air Force claimed that 6,428 enemy trucks destroyed and another 3,604 damaged. The exact results of this initial test are still unclear, but the program nevertheless continued. In 1967 U.S. recon photographs uncovered an unusual sight. Due to the failure of the anti-personnel portion of the system, the targets of Commando Hunt were trucks, the infrastructure of the trail (truck parks, supply caches, POL storage, etc. Commando Lava. ", The physical barrier was to be backed up by air-dropped and hand-emplaced acoustic and seismic sensors that would provide both warning and location of enemy movements. The American headquarters in Saigon requested, and received, authorization to control bombing in the area adjacent to South Vietnam's northern provinces in Operation Tiger Hound on 3 December 1965. Yet, an even lesser estimate of trucks destroyed by the Defense Intelligence Agency only resulted in their computer model reaching zero (where the enemy was supposed to be out of trucks) no fewer than 14 times during the same time period. The second source of the failure was the utilization of what Colonel Charles Morrison has called "over-sophisticated methods" against "elemental systems. In some areas, the trail was built up to semi-improved highways crawling with Soviet and Chinese-supplied trucks.

telegram 206487 to Vientiane, June 1, the Department of State Operation Popeye was a secret Vietnam War-era effort to conduct covert cloud seeding over Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, extend the monsoon season, and … Others never made it past the development phase. See also the preceding Category:Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1969 and the succeeding Category:Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1971. This event, and others like it, were compounded by the crossing into Laotian airspace of North Vietnamese MiG fighters. During the year the North Vietnamese transported or stored 60,000 tons of supplies with a net loss rate of 2.07 percent. As early as 1966 Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara had become increasingly disenchanted with the bombing of the north.

On 17 June 1967 the title of the program was altered to Illinois City and on 15 July to Dyemarker, the electronic barrier portion of which was designated Muscle Shoals. Electronic resources for U.S. foreign relations. Air Force planners believed that Operation Commando Hunt VII (1 November 1971 to 29 March 1972) would be the most fruitful of the entire campaign. "[39] The motivating factor became evident in April, when U.S. and South Vietnamese ground forces launched an incursion into the PAVN base areas lining the eastern border of Cambodia.

[8] The president, in an attempt to nudge Hanoi to the negotiating table, decreed an end to bombing operations in North Vietnam north of the 20th parallel, effectively ending Rolling Thunder on 11 November 1968.[9][contradictory]. This list may not reflect recent changes (). Seventh Air Force wrote to the bosses at Pacific Air Forces. [64] Regardless of the constant American belief that its enemy was on the verge of collapse, PAVN maintained and expanded its logistical flow to combat units in the field and managed to launch major offensives in 1968 and 1972 and a counteroffensive in 1971. This conventional attack, backed by armor, heavy artillery, and anti-aircraft units (including SAMs) rolled over the two northernmost provinces of South Vietnam while two smaller offensives were launched in central and southern parts of the country. the operation was purely experimental, Souvanna had not been [54] During the same period, 195,000 PAVN replacements moved through the system to the southern battlefields. Further information on the North Vietnamese logistical system: Further information on on the electronic sensor operation: Further information on on the PAVN logistical system in Cambodia: Further information on on the incursion into Cambodia: Further information on on SAC bombing campaign in eastern Cambodia 18 March 1969 – 26 May 1970: Further information on on the South Vietnamese offensive into Laos: Further information on on the North Vietnamese offensive: Further information on on the second U.S. aerial campaign against North Vietnam: Further information on on the third U.S. aerial campaign against North Vietnam: For a detailed history of the interdiction effort from 1961 to 1968, see Jacob Van Staaveren. Nam lacinia pulvinar tortor nec facilisis. They were then utilized in the first sustained bombing of North Vietnam since late 1968 (see Operation Linebacker). They also retook Attopeu, Saravane, and Ban Thateng, cementing their hold on the strategic Bolovens Plateau of south central Laos. [12] No amount of pressure, it seemed, could either drive Hanoi to the negotiating table or slow the flow of PAVN supplies and men to the south. The name Operation Popeye (Pop Eye) entered the public space through a brief mention in the Pentagon Papers and a July 3, 1972, article in the New York Times. expressed interest in reviewing operational proposals for

For instance, Air Force intelligence claimed that 9,012 enemy trucks were destroyed during 1969. The hand emplacement of sensors and bomb damage assessment missions were to be carried out by the reconnaissance teams of the highly classified Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (SOG), which already operated "over the fence" in Laos. Interdiction missions were then diverted to carry out an even heavier aerial offensive against the north (see Operation Linebacker II).

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