In Operation Niagara, Task Force 77 and other U.S. In January 1968, however, the Tet offensive interrupted the campaign, compelling the Navy to shift air assets to close air support missions designed to defend major positions in South Vietnam. Phase V (May 1967–October 1968) focused on what remained of North Vietnam’s industrial infrastructure as well as “fleeting” targets of opportunity. A Department of Defense report released to the press on 9 January 1967 claimed a loss of 599 fixed-wing aircraft from all the services and 255 helicopters-a total of 854 aircraft.

Overall, the air campaign only produced limited interdiction gains by early 1967, but had cost the United States greatly in the number of aircraft lost. warplanes struck targets in Hanoi for the first time, but these more aggressive tactics did not have much impact on the North Vietnamese leadership or its forces in South Vietnam. Phase IV (October 1966–May 1967) shifted the campaign to industrial facilities and power-generating plants. Phase III (January–October 1966) focused on POL resources. Phase II (July 1965–January 1966) targeted roads, bridges, boats, and railroads. It accomplished little other than hardening the resolve of the Communist regime and spurring the creation of one of the world’s most sophisticated air defense networks. In Phase I (March–June 1965), a variety of targets, including ammunition depots, radar sites, and barracks, were hit in an attempt to persuade North Vietnam to come to the negotiating table. The Rolling Thunder campaign had five distinct phases: Absent from the list were many air defense targets, which were either too close to heavily populated areas or, in the case of airfields, too provocative. Therefore, targets chosen tended to be interdiction targets, such as bridges and railway lines, plus ones connected with the industrial base and war economy, such as POL (petroleum, oil, lubricants), power plants, and weapons and ammunitions storage depots.

The campaign sought to strike targets sufficiently valuable to pressure the North Vietnamese into concessions, albeit in a limited manner that would not result in too many civilian deaths, the destruction of the North Vietnamese regime, or a Soviet or Chinese intervention. The goal of the operation was to discourage the Hanoi regime’s direction and support of an insurgency that threatened to destroy the Republic of Vietnam. On 2 March 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder missions commenced against North Vietnam.

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