Garyaero Nov 28, 2012 9:51am

Wild Weasel tactics and techniques were first developed in the Vietnam and Yom Kippur Wars, and were later integrated into the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) a plan used by US air forces to establish immediate air control, prior to possible full scale conflict.[2] Initially known by the operational code "Iron Hand" when first authorized on 12 August 1965, the term "Wild Weasel" derives from Project Wild Weasel, the USAF development program for a dedicated SAM-detection and suppression aircraft. (The technique {or a specific part} was also called an "Iron Hand" mission, though technically the Iron Hand part refers only to a suppression attack that paves the way for the main strike.[3]) Originally named "Project Ferret", denoting a predatory animal that goes into its prey's den to kill it (hence: "to ferret out"), the name was changed to differentiate it from the code-name "Ferret" that had been used during World War II for radar counter-measures bombers.

Hap852 Oct 19, 2012 1:29pm

Wild Weasel was actually a mission discription not an aircraft identifier. The wild weasels were used to surpress flak and sams. The F 105 was however a superlative wild weasel platform.

bluediamondknight Oct 18, 2012 2:31pm

Yeah ! They mean Business !