Operation Igloo White

Operation Igloo White
Part of the Vietnam War
Date 1968–1973 Location Southern Laos Result Failure of U.S. strategy
Belligerents
United States Thailand	Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)

United States

Operation Igloo White was a covert United States joint military electronic warfare operation conducted from late January 1968 until February 1973, during the Vietnam War. These missions were carried out by the 553d Reconnaissance Wing, a U.S. Air Force unit flying modified EC-121R Warning Star aircraft, and VO-67, a specialized U.S. Navy unit flying highly modified OP-2E Neptune aircraft. This state-of-the-art operation utilized electronic sensors, computers, and communications relay aircraft in an attempt to automate intelligence collection. The system would then assist in the direction of strike aircraft to their targets. The objective of those attacks was the logistical system of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) that snaked through southeastern Laos and was known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Truong Son Road to the North Vietnamese).

"The MUSCLE SHOALS (IGLOO WHITE) program was initiated on 16 September 1966, with a decision by Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara, to develop a system to interdict North Vietnamese infiltration into South Vietnam. The program, as envisioned, included two closely related systems: (1) a strong point/obstacle subsystem to be deployed in a line across Vietnam, just below the DMZ, extending inland from the coast; and (2) an air-supported anti-infiltration subsystem extending westward from the strong point/obstacle subsystem into central Laos to include the I- area of the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam through central and eastern Laos into South Vietnam (Fig. 1). By the end of 1966, a plan ij had been prepared and funds for the program were budgeted."

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