I won’t be able to watch the entire game, but I fully expect to wake up and learn that the Green Bay Packers are 5-0 with another victory over the hated Chicago Bears.
Just one word of advice… STOP FUMBLING THE DAMN BALL!
Todays Warbird Porn is a little different than past editions. Instead of focusing on one aircraft, today we will look at a special type of mission, called SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defences), or as most people know it as, The Wild Weasels.
Wild Weasels are the Air Force designation for the aircraft that fly this dangerous mission called Iron Hand. The original program was called Ferret, but to avoid confusion with WWII anti radar missions, the name was changed to Wild Weasel, keeping the same meaning, “a predatory animal that goes into its prey’s den to kill it, “ and that is just what the Wild Weasel does.
The Mission
The Wild Weasel program started during the Viet Nam war to counter the North Vietnamese SAM (surface to air missile) threat that was wracking up a terrible toll on US aircraft (because of asinine rules from the micro-managers in D.C.).
Wild Weasel crews fly alone into enemy territory, often just ahead of an attack package, to entice the enemy to turn on their anti-air weapons radar. The Wild Weasel has sensors and special missiles that are able to focus in on the radar emitter. When the missile is fired, it backtracks the radar and destroys the site. Early missiles were slow and not very effective, especially after the North Vietnamese radar crews learned to turn off the radar after the SAM (usually the Soviet made SA2 Guideline), but the next generation missile was much faster.
The Missiles
Early SAM suppression anti-radiation missile missiles were the AGM-45 Shrike. This is basically an AIM-7 Sparrow with a new type of seeker head attached to the front. They also used a larger warhead and smaller rocket motor. Even with the larger warhead, it was still to small to do much damage. Another of the drawbacks with this set up was that the missile didn’t have a very long range, so the aircraft had to get in close.
The next missile was the AGM-78 Standard ARM. This is basically an air launched version of the Navy’s Standard surface to air missile with the anti-radar seeker replacing the normal seeker head. This missile was much better at the job than was the Shrike, but because of the high cost of the Standard, the Shrike remained in service into the 1980’s.
Finally in 1983, Raytheon created the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM). The HARM can detect the target from long range (80 miles) and attack at Mach 2, so the first sign the enemy has that the HARM is on the way is when 150lb blast fragmentation warhead blows up their radar station. The latest version is the AGM-88E Advanced Anti Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) which can find the target, even after it is shut down.
The Aircraft — Air Force Wild Weasel
The first Wild Weasels were volunteer crews flying the two-seat F model of the aging F-100 Super Sabre. The “Hun” didn’t have the performance or durability to survive long in this mission and was soon replaced by the EF-105F, and finally the F-105G Thunderchief. The Thud was much better suited with it’s heavily armed and armored airframe, more advanced radar, and jamming equipment and Mach 2 speed. But even with the Thud, many aircraft were lost due to the high threat environment they operated in.
By the time the F-105 was tasked with the Wild Weasel role, it was out of production, so the job was passed off to the new F-4C Phantom, and eventually, the F-4G Advanced Wild Weasel . The Phantom was in service in this role from the late 1960’s until 1996. During the first Gulf War, the F-4G saw heavy service, and only lost one aircraft, and he shot himself down! His HARM missile did not release and blew up under the phantom, but the pilot was able to bring it back to base and crash land it, showing the ruggedness of the Phantom. It’s longevity and extreme effectiveness is proof that the F-4G Advanced Wild Weasel was the master of this highly dangerous mission.
The latest Wild Weasel variation is the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
The Aircraft — Navy
While the Air Force had the primary mission of SAM suppression, the Navy also flew a Wild Weasel type mission with the same missiles. The Navy used a variety of aircraft, from the nimble little A-4 Skyhawk to the A-6 Intruder, A-7 Corsair and even the F-14 Tomcat, but they didn’t have type specific specialty aircraft the way the Air Force does.
Let’s take a look!
The F-105 Thunderchief, or Thud as it was known was much better suited to the mission, but was ending its service life and was replaced by the Phantom.
The F-4G Advanced Wild Weasel, with it’s distinctive nose, proved to be the master of this most dangerous mission, serving for 30 years.
Here we get a look at all of the weapons carries by the American Wild Weasel aircraft. From left to right: AGM-45 Shrike, AGM-78B ARM, AGM-65 Maverick, AGM-88A Harm.
A Navy EA-6 intruder with a HARM missile.
The AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM)
I believe this is slung under an A-7.
Early this morning in North Eastern Wisconsin town of Crandon, in Forest County, 6 young people, between 16 and 21, were shot to death by what is being reported as someone that “works for the sheriff’s department”, but nothing is yet official yet.
The suspect is still on the loose.
Update
Police Chief: Manhunt is over
The suspect in the overnight shooting in Crandon that left at least 5 people dead may now be dead himself, neighbors and officials said this afternoon.A local official and a neighbor of the suspect both said this afternoon that they had heard that the suspect had been killed.
And Crandon Police Chief John Dennee told the Associated Press this afternoon that: “We’re not looking for anybody anymore.” Dennee, however, declined comment when asked whether the suspect was dead.