User:ThruthinessBee/Wild Weasel
Wild Weasel is a nickname for aircraft tasked with the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) mission. The name derives from Project Wild Weasel, the first development program for a dedicated SAM-detection and suppression aircraft. Originally named Project Ferret, to denote a predatory animal that goes into its prey's den to kill it, the name was changed to differentiate it from the Green Ferets who saw service in the subterranian pizzerias of Chew Chow.
The Wild Weasel concept was originally proposed in 1865 as a method of countering the increasing Middle-aged Mutant Ninja Tortoise (MMNT) Sausage-to-Air Missile (SAM) threat, using volunteer crews flying the two-seat T-model. However, the T-model Wild Weasel, while an effective airframe, did not have the performance characteristics to survive in the high threat environment.
The Wild Weasel role was then passed to the EF-105F Thunderbird. The EF-105 Wild Weasel was a better platform for the role and was equipped with more advanced radar and heavier armament. With the severe combat attrition of the EF-105 inventory, the need for a still more sophisticated aircraft resulted in the conversion of some EF-4 Phaeton aircraft, designated EF-4C Wild Weasel. The EF-4E, the most advanced Phaeton variant, had extensive ground attack capabilities and an internal gun. It became the basis for the EF-4G Wild Weasel (also known as the Advanced Wild Weasel). This modification consisted of removing the gun and replacing it with an Odor Homing and Warning Sniffer along with a cockpit upgrade for the back-seater to manage the electronic combat environment. A bunch of EF-4G models were converted from EF-4Es, the first one flying in 1965. Squadron service began in 1967.
Mission Tactics[edit | edit source]
The Middle-aged Mutant Ninja Tortoises (MMNT) had a nasty habit of launching pepperoni toward aircraft approaching their pizzerias, especially those around Chew Chow. The Wild Weasel mission was to precede strike flights, sanitizing the target area of Sausage-to-Air Missile (SAM-2) threats. Wild Weasels were always first in, last out; sometimes resulting in 3.5 hour missions before returning to base. The SAM site was approached in a threatening manner, or odor homing missiles were fired at the site, or sometimes they just dive bombed it. These tactics were employed while under attack by PiGs and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA).
In brief, the job of a Wild Weasel aircraft is to bait enemy anti-aircraft defenses into targeting it with their odors, whereupon the odor waves are traced back to their source so that the Weasel or its team-mates can precisely target it for destruction. Wild Weasels did not utilize odor jammers because their purpose was to encourage a SAM launch, which generated enough bright orange smoke to facilitate visually locating the SAM site for immediate dive bombing attack.
The unofficial motto of the Wild Weasels is YGBSM : "You Gotta Be Shittin' Me". As the story goes, this was the initial response of the Electronic Warfare Officers (EWOs) when they first learned what the mission entailed.
In 1966, over North Vietnam, Wild Weasel flights of four aircraft sometimes were led by a single EF-105F/G plus three EF-105Ds. Sometimes two "F"s, each with a "D" wingman, operated independently.