Wild Weasel.

This is coolbert:

For the U.S. Air Force, both during the Vietnam War and the First Gulf War, there was one place on the battlefield [in the air obviously], that was the most dangerous of them all.

That was the aircraft flying in the role of a "Wild Weasel".

A "Wild Weasel" is:

"an aircraft that has been modified to identify, locate and physically suppress or destroy ground-based enemy air defense systems. The aircraft launches missiles that home in on the defense system's electromagnetic energy emitted as these radar system tracks the aircraft. Simply put: If an anti-aircraft radar system is turned on for more than a few seconds, the Wild Weasel can use the radar's own signal to find and destroy it."

Usually a F-4 aircraft [very venerable by the time of the First Gulf War!!], this aircraft would be the first to arrive and the last to leave the air battlefield. Over enemy territory, the "Wild Weasel" pilot would OFFER HIMSELF as a target. Make the enemy shoot at him, turn on his air defense radars, and fire surface-to-air-missiles [SAM] at the "Weasel".



This IS the most dangerous spot in the air battlefield. The pilot of a "Wild Weasel", [with his weapons officer riding shotgun] deliberately would goad the enemy to fire at him. Let the enemy expose his firing positions, and reveal the frequencies his SAM radars are working on.

"degrade enemy air defenses in the first period of a conflict in order to increase the chances of survival for the following waves of strike aircraft."

THIS IS very dangerous work!!

Pilots of the "Wild Weasels", were renowned for having a very high esprit de corps. Liked and relished the task of being in the most dangerous place in the air battlefield. [that the pilots of these aircraft are willing to perform these dangerous missions, and do so in a very conscious manner, always creates a lot of interest in the general public. This is a form of danger FEW are willing to endure, much less relish!!]

After goading the enemy SAM units to fire on them, the "Wild Weasels" would then attempt to neutralize of destroy these enemy missile sites by using a novel and deadly weapon, the anti-radiation missile [ARM].

"anti-radiation missile: An anti-radiation missile is a missile which is designed to detect and home in on the emissions of an enemy radar installation."

HOMES in on the radar emissions of an enemy radar site [the SAM site]!! Follows the radar beam TO the SAM site.

There being two varieties of the ARM in use at current time.

The Shrike, from the Vietnam era:



AND the HARM [High speed Anti-Radiation Missile] of the current era:



"Another design point of modern ARM missiles, other than the range (which is hopefully greater than that of the SAM systems it will be targeted at) is their speed. Some SAM systems utilize huge missiles which are able to accelerate up to incredible speeds (some as high as Mach 10), which means that if the ARM is to be useful in a 'duel' between an aircraft and a SAM site, the ARM should be able to fly to and hit the SAM site faster than the SAM can fly to and hit the aircraft."

In a nutshell, this IS A DUEL TO THE FINISH. BETWEEN THE SAM SITE AND THE PILOT AND THE WEAPONS OFFICER OF THE "WILD WEASEL. AGAIN, A DUEL!!!

This is the sort of thing JUST NOT normally found in modern warfare.

Go here to see a web site devoted to "Wild Weasels".

coolbert.