Air Tactics - the SAMbush

[Matt Wiser]

Quail wasn't used over NVN. EB-66 jamming, Wild Weasel F-105s, and the B-52s' own jamming did the job. Still, the NVN shot down 16 B-52s (all in 1972: one during the last month of LINEBACKER I, 15 during LINEBACKER II).

A lot of what the Navy calls IRON HAND (anti-SAM) is rightfully classified. My cousin (USN F/A-18 driver) has flown that mission in exercises and on Night One of OEF, when there were SA-2s around Kandahar that were believed to be operational. But if ODS is a guide: the use of TALD, ITALD, and MALD decoys helps the attacker: the decoys, often with blip enhancers, force the defender to turn on their radars, and that attracts the HARM shooters. Even if you're out of HARMs, just call "Magnum" over the radio, and that will make the bad guys turn off their radars-they don't know you're out of ordnance, and for all they know, there's a HARM (or other antiradar missile) inbound.

Many Soviet tactical SAMs (SA-6, SA-8, SA-11, SA-15, etc.) have EO backups in case the radar is jammed. As do their naval counterparts.