Operation ROLLING THUNDER/Related Articles

Parent topics

Vietnam War [r]: A post-colonial independence/Cold War conflict between communist North Vietnam against South Vietnam, assisted by the United States (1955-1975), to unify Vietnam; won by North Vietnam in 1975. ^[e]
Air operations in the Vietnam War [r]: Air warfare, generally excluding helicopters in direct support of troops, waged between 1962 and 1975 against targets in North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, from aircraft carriers as well as bases in South Vietnam and Thailand ^[e]
Air operations against North Vietnam [r]: Strategic strike, offensive counter-air, special operations and battlefield air interdiction operations carried out against North Vietnam, 1964-1975, by U.S. forces operating from Thailand, South Korea, Guam, and aircraft carriers ^[e]

A-4 Skyhawk [r]: Lightweight carrier-capable attack aircraft, really more a multirole fighter weighted toward bombing; originally designed for delivering single nuclear weapon; exceptionally maneuverable and used as an aggressor trainer; used by many nations ^[e]
A-6 Intruder [r]: Last carrier capable medium bomber, with significant range and all-weather capability giving excellent combat record from Vietnam on; aging airframes were to be replaced by the A-12 stealth bomber; greater use of precision-guided munitions may decrease the need for its large bombload, but range is still a consideration in its replacement by the F-18 Super Hornet and F-35C Lightning II ^[e]
F-4 Phantom II [r]: An extremely successful third-generation fighter, the first effective multirole fighter, which, even after its replacement as a first-line fighter, continued in reconnaissance and suppression of enemy air defense roles well into the 1990s. ^[e]
F-105 [r]: A fighter-bomber used extensively against North Vietnam. ^[e]
F-8 Crusader [r]: Add brief definition or description

Gravity bomb [r]: A bomb with no supplemental propulsion, whose trajectory is determined by initial velocity and gravity, or by the action of aerodynamic control surfaces. ^[e]
Cluster munition [r]: A military weapon, fired or dropped from another weapon, that releases smaller submunitions that cause the actual destructive effect ^[e]
AIM-7 Sparrow [r]: A semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile introduced during the Vietnam War, the early models were not effective, although it improved over time, spawned the RIM-162 ESSM naval surface-to-air missile, but has been replaced for air-to-air use by the AIM-120 AMRAAM ^[e]
AIM-9 Sidewinder [r]: The first operational heat-seeking air-to-air missile, this weapon, with five generations of improvements, has been in service for over fifty years. ^[e]

MiG-19 [r]: Add brief definition or description
MiG-21 [r]: Add brief definition or description
Anti-aircraft artillery [r]: A general term for guns that can elevate to high angles and shoot accurately at aircraft, using visual, electro-optical, or radar guidance. ^[e]
S-75 Dvina [r]: S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems were the first Soviet air defense missiles in wide deployment. Their NATO reporting designation was SA-2 GUIDELINE. ^[e]

United States Pacific Command [r]: The U.S. Unified Combatant Command, headquartered in Hawaii, and responsible for the Pacific and East Asia ^[e]
Seventh Air Force [r]: Add brief definition or description
United States Seventh Fleet [r]: The forward-deployed forces of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps that operate in the western Pacific Ocean; a major operating command under United States Pacific Command ^[e]
Integrated air defense system [r]: An air defense that combines radar, anti-aircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles, and fighter aircraft, presenting multiple layers of defense under systematic command and control ^[e]
Electronic warfare [r]: A subset of information operations that deals with the use of electromagnetic or kinetic means to degrade an enemy's military electronics systems, to be able to operate one's own electronics in the face of enemy attacks, and to evade those attacks through protection or deception ^[e]