page_title: Wild Weasel
section_title: Current
hierarchical_section_title: Wild Weasel / Equipment / Current
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Air Force Col. James W. Hyatt, commander of the 20th Fighter Wing, flies an F-16CJ Fighting Falcon aircraft, Feb. 23, 2007, during his final flight as wing commander at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. Hyatt served as the senior officer responsible for organizing, training, and equipping a 19-squadron wing with three F-16CJ fighter squadrons.
context_page_description: Wild Weasel is a code name given by the United States Armed Forces, specifically the US Air Force, to an aircraft, of any type, equipped with anti-radiation missiles and tasked with the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses: destroying the radar and Surface-to-Air Missile installations of enemy air defense systems.
  "The first Wild Weasel success came soon after the first Wild Weasel mission 20 December 1965 when Captains Al Lamb and Jack Donovan took out a site during a Rolling Thunder strike on the railyard at Yen Bai, some 75 miles northwest of Hanoi."
  The Wild Weasel concept was developed by the United States Air Force in 1965, after the introduction of Soviet SAMs and their downing of U.S. strike aircraft over the skies of North Vietnam. The program was headed by General Kenneth Dempster.
  Wild Weasel tactics and techniques began their development in 1965 following the commencement of Operation Rolling Thunder during the Vietnam War, and were later adapted by other nations during following conflicts, as well as being integrated into the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, a plan used by U.S. air forces to establish immediate air supremacy prior to possible full-scale conflict.
context_section_description: A change in aircraft design theory to stress versatile multi-role aircraft meant that the F-4G Phantom was the last aircraft in the USAF inventory specifically outfitted for the SEAD role. The Wild Weasel mission is now assigned to the F-16 Fighting Falcon, using the Block 50 and Block 52, with production beginning in 1991. The single-seat Block 50/52 F-16C is specifically tasked with this mission. The pilot now performs both the role of flying the airplane and targeting and employing against ground threats. Other aircraft, while capable of taking out anti-air emplacements, are typically tasked with other primary missions; the A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog", primarily tasked with CAS missions, lacks the avionics to perform a true SEAD mission and does not carry the AGM-88 HARM. The F-15E Strike Eagle, possessing advanced air-to-ground avionics but also high speed and long range, is typically tasked with "deep strike" missions, which can include SAM installations but typically focuses on high-value targets such as enemy command & control, infrastructure and production, and likewise does not carry HARM.
  The Tornado ECR variant is dedicated to SEAD missions and is currently operated by the German Air Force and Italian Air Force. The Royal Air Force used the GR4 variant to conduct similar missions utilising the ALARM missile, though they were mainly used in the interdiction/CAS role. The RAF retired the ALARM missile in 2013 and retired the Tornado in 2019.
  The F-35 Lightning II is slated to gradually replace these aircraft for various air-to-ground roles, including SEAD, beginning with its introduction in 2016. Its stealth capabilities promise a significant increase in effectiveness against air-defence radars, though to maintain its lowest radar signature, its payload capacity would be limited to the internal weapons bays, reducing the number of missile site attacks per sortie. However, it can carry more or larger air to ground weapons internally than even the F-22 and is more advanced in a ground attack capacity, potentially making it the best manned aircraft for destroying sophisticated enemy air defenses.
caption: An F-16CJ of the 20th Fighter Wing.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "b'U.S. Air Force Col. , ... ]", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D2X", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:02:28 15:25:55", "Image Artist": "Staff Sgt. Sarayuth Pinthong", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "1084", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1716", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1830", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "0", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1600", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:02:23 23:56:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:02:23 23:56:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Cloudy weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "34", "EXIF SubSecTime": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4188", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2316", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "51", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}