Operation Frantic Goat
Operation Frantic Goat was a psychological warfare operation directed against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) beginning in 1967. Frantic Goat was a follow-on to Operation Fact Sheet, a psychological warfare operation initiated in 1965 by the Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) as a threat campaign, its main message being the threat of increased bombing if the North Vietnamese continued to support their government's policies. Frantic Goat's objective redirected the effort to inform the people of North Vietnam of the actual progress of the war and of the intentions of the government of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and its Allies.
The heavily defended nature of the Red River Delta, where the majority of the population of North Vietnam lived, required the use of high performance aircraft. The mission was assigned to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. The Wing's F-4C aircraft used the M129E1 leaflet bomb, which had been designed initially as a chaff dispenser. For leaflet drops in lower threat areas, C-130 aircraft were used to perform high altitude drops.
C-130s of the 35th Tactical Airlift Squadron, from the 315th Air Division based in Okinawa, were first to conduct the mission. C-130 aircraft were fragged for 3 Frantic Goat missions per month, with each mission normally requiring 3 days. The normal C-130A payload was 24,000 pounds, which equated to 10-16 million leaflets, depending on leaflet size, The majority of the missions were fragged from the DMZ north to Ha Tinh. During the period from July to September 1967, approximately 48 million leaflets per month were dropped in this area. The C-130 aircraft were restricted from operating north of 180 30' north latitude, from overflight into North Vietnam along the western border, and from flying closer than 20 nautical miles to the North Vietnamese east coast, These restrictions generally precluded volume leaflet dissemination north of Vinh, North Vietnam.
The F-4 aircraft were fragged on primary targets in the Red River Delta area and secondary targets in the southern North Vietnam panhandle. These aircraft were restricted from penetrating the high threat areas and were fragged to drop their M129E1 leaflet bombs at a predetermined point outside the high threat area. This required that the leaflets wind-drift to the desired targets. The F-4 aircraft normally carried 10 M129E1 leaflet bombs. The capacity of the bomb depended on the size of the leaflet, but each bomb could accommodate approximately 80,000 of the standard 3" x 6" leaflet. This equated to approximately 3.2 million leaflets per 4-aircraft flight, During the period from July to September 1967, approximately 13.6 million leaflets were dropped by this system, Most of the leaflet dissemination was carried out in the southern panhandle.
Through the combined use of F-4s and C-130s, an average of 61 million leaflets per month were dropped over North Vietnam during the period from July to September 1967, but less than 10 percent of the leaflets were dropped on the Red River Delta, This was due to unfavorable weather; inherent limitations of F-4C aircraft as a leaflet carrier; and an increased number of SAM sites, resulting in a reduction of safe corridors for the F-4. Long-range delivery of leaflets was generally difficult to accomplish during the southwest monsoon (July to September) because of the opposing winds. Overflight, or short range leaflet drift, was the only means of leaflet dissemination. The period of the northeast monsoon (November to April) was the most opportune time to disseminate psychological leaflets over North Vietnam, especially the Red River Delta. During the transitional periods (May, June, and October), weather conditions were not generally advantageous for psychological operations activity in the Red River Delta, except for short range wind drift or overflight dissemination.
In July 1970, the C-130 operating location was changed from Ubon to Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam. In January 1971, the 90th Special Operations Squadron at Nha Trang, South Vietnam assumed both the Fountain Pen and Frantic Goat missions. In April 1971, the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing began augmenting the 90th Special Operations Squadron due to a commitment to fly 2 additional Fountain Pen sorties per week.
While leaflet deliveries were made under Frantic Goat, it was difficult to assess the effectiveness of the campaign. The reaction from North Vietnam in 1967 to the threat of psychological operations was encouraging enough for JUSPAO to set a goal of placing 60 million leaflets per month in North Vietnam. This goal was never achieved because of the lack of a psychological operations delivery system that could safely penetrate the North Vietnamese defenses and distribute large volumes of leaflets. In 1967 its was suggested that for high-altitude, wind-drift delivery of leaflets, a higher altitude, higher speed aircraft than the C-130 be used, although the C-130 had already supported Frantic Goat. In addition, it was suggested that if an advanced delivery system was not available, a means of dispensing leaflets from a pressurized aircraft should be developed that would be compatible with all models of the C-130 to provide greater mission flexibility. The C-130 crews had to use oxygen equipment to conduct the high altitude drops.
In a 7 December 1967 letter, MACV requested that a Southeast Asia Operational Requirement (SEAOR) be developed by Seventh Air Force for an improved delivery system. In a letter of 27 December 1967, MACV suggested that an interim measure be developed to fulfill an "urgent requirement for dispensing systems which would enable low altitude delivery by high performance aircraft to pinpoint geographic areas. Seventh Air Force replied in January 1968 that it would take these proposals under consideration. Subsequent developmental work was conducted exploring the use of modified C-130, modified C-141, and F-4 aircraft using existing systems, modified flare and chaff dispensers, and purpose build systems, such as the Tactical Fighter Dispenser for leaflet drops. The costs of modifying the C-130 or C-141 aircraft were determined to be prohibitive and no purpose built dispenser was selected for adoption.
In addition to the technical issues, the cessation of bombing in the North in March 1968, and the accompanying restriction on sorties above the 20th parallel, limited the execution of the Frantic Goat campaign. However, the Frantic Goat mission was not entirely suspended. A follow-on leaflet campaign, Frantic Goat South (the original program subsequently being referenced to as Frantic Goat North), was developed against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; North Vietnamese Army) the North Vietnamese populace below the 20th parallel, as well as against PAVN soldiers who had infiltrated South Vietnam. Two Frantic Goat missions per week were being flown at the end of 1969, with an occasional C-130 leaflet drop in South Vietnam. During 1970-1971, Frantic Goat missions were also flown over Laos, Cambodia, as well as Vietnam below the 20th parallel. In 1970 and 1971, an average of 46 million leaflets were dropped each month in Cambodia. C-130s dropped 88 million leaflets from 8 February to 22 March 1971 in support of Operation Lam Son 719. These operations continued into 1972 and included traditional leaflets with information on how to "rally" to the South Vietnamese side and declarations of ralliers imploring others to surrender, as well as specially produced newspapers with tailored information.
In 1972, the bombing campaign against North Vietnam resumed and Operation Frantic Goat was replaced by Operation Field Goal as the primary psychological warfare element of the new campaign. Frantic Goat South operations continued, but again under a new operational title: Prairie Lightning.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
