Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses ( SEAD ) , also known as " Wild Weasel " and " Iron Hand " operations in the United States , are military actions to suppress enemy surface - based air defense s ( Surface - to - air missile s ( SAMs ) and anti - aircraft artillery ( AAA ) ) , primarily in the first hours of an attack . One fourth of American combat sorties in recent conflicts have been SEAD missions . Weapons . The weapons most often associated with this mission are anti - radiation missile s ( ARMs ) such as the American AGM - 88 HARM and British ALARM . Weapons used for SEAD missions can be anything which damages or destroys a component of an air defense system . A Paveway LGB , for example , is not a SEAD - specific munition but , when used to destroy a radar antenna , it achieves the objective of Suppression of Enemy Air Defense . Possibly the most effective type of unguided ( " dumb " ) weapon used during SEAD strikes are cluster bomb s , because many SAM sites are dispersed over a fairly wide area , in order to increase the difficulty of inflicting serious damage on the battery , and the relative " softness " of the targets ( missile launchers , exposed radars , etc . ) . The Mk - 20 Rockeye II anti - armor cluster munition and the CBU - 87 general - purpose cluster munition are often used against these fixed - location SAM sites , often for " clean - up " of a site whose radar or C & C facilities are first destroyed by a longer - range ARM or AGM . The relatively new American AGM - 154 Joint Standoff Weapon is a valuable SEAD weapon due to its fairly long standoff range which allows the launching aircraft to avoid being threatened by all but the longest - range missiles , and its relatively large area of destruction against soft targets . By country . In U . S . service during the Vietnam war , SEAD missions were carried out by dedicated variants of tactical fighters such as the F - 105G Thunderchief and F - 4G Phantom II . These aircraft were nicknamed " Wild Weasels " , and often used themselves as bait for enemy defenses . On the other hand , the Soviets preferred to use modified stand - off interceptors such as the Mikoyan MiG - 25BM and missile - armed bombers such as the Tupolev Tu - 22M to destroy targets from a distance rather than up - close . Currently the main United States Air Force ( USAF ) SEAD aircraft is the F - 16 Fighting Falcon , a multirole aircraft configurable for a variety of ground strike missions including SEAD . The Air Force and Navy ' s emphasis in recent decades on multirole aircraft over dedicated single - role designs has largely made specified SEAD variants obsolete ; virtually any aircraft in the U . S . arsenal designed to carry air - to - ground ordnance can , if needed , be configured for SEAD and be highly effective in that profile . The F / A - 18 Super Hornet navy multirole fighter , F - 15E Strike Eagle medium strike fighter , AV - 8B Harrier marine strike fighter and A - 10 Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft are common secondary choices for SEAD missions depending on availability and mission requirements . The advent of 5th - generation fighters has seen somewhat of a return to dedicated role aircraft ; while the F - 22 Raptor is capable of carrying ground ordinance , the aircraft ' s primary mission is air superiority unlike the more balanced profile of the F - 16 and F / A - 18 . The upcoming F - 35 Lightning II is intended to fulfill the ground strike mission profiles of most current multirole and strike fighter aircraft . In European NATO air forces , the SEAD mission falls mostly to Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s , Luftwaffe Tornado Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance variant ( ECR ) , and Aeronautica Militare ( AMI ) Tornado ECRs . The RAF Tornados rely on the aforementioned ALARM missile and the Italian / German Tornado ECRs employ the AGM - 88 HARM missile . The Tornado ECR was designed from the outset as a SEAD platform and is unique in the European NATO air order of battle . Although several European NATO aircraft can carry SEAD weapons , few were designed for , or are specifically tasked with , the dangerous SEAD mission . All modern SEAD aircraft are modified to equip some level of electronic jamming equipment to make the job easier on the pilot .