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      • Dave Lovelady
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    • Background to the Wars in Southeast Asia
    • 1961 to 1964: Civil War in Laos/Early Operations in South Vietnam
    • 1965: Escalation of the War/Start of Rolling Thunder
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The Grumman A-6 Intruder (Jul 1965)

When the USS Independence sailed into the South China Sea on 5 June it introduced a new aircraft to the conflict in the shape of the Grumman A-6A Intruder, a two-seat night and all-weather attack bomber.  The aircraft was equipped with advanced avionics and radar and had a useful bomb load of some 15,000lb.  Its specialist role was low level interdiction, often at night and as a single or two ship operation without escort.  However, when the first Intruders deployed to Southeast Asia the aircraft’s DIANE (Digital, Integrated Attack and Navigation Equipment) suite of avionics was not yet fully functional nor totally reliable.  VA-75 flew its first operational mission into North Vietnam on 1 July but by the end of the month the squadron had lost three aircraft.  While the vagaries of the DIANE system were not responsible for the losses, the complicated avionics caused a much greater degree of aircraft unservicability than was normal for an attack squadron.  The problems with the avionics and radar were still not solved when the second Intruder squadron, VA-85, arrived on the USS Kitty Hawk in November. The technical issues were eventually solved and the A-6 provided the only really effective night interdiction capability in Southeast Asia until the introduction of the USAF’s F-111.

 

 

 

 

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© Chris Hobson and David Lovelady. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
      • Chris Hobson
      • Dave Lovelady
    • About the Book
    • About the Data
    • About this Site
  • Sidelines
    • Background to the Wars in Southeast Asia
    • 1961 to 1964: Civil War in Laos/Early Operations in South Vietnam
    • 1965: Escalation of the War/Start of Rolling Thunder
    • 1966: Rolling Thunder Gets into its Stride
    • 1967: Rolling Thunder - The Peak Year
    • 1968: Tet, Khe Sanh, and the End of Rolling Thunder
    • 1969: Interdiction on the Ho Chi Minh Trail
    • 1970: The Year of Withdrawal
    • 1971: A Much Reduced Presence
    • 1972: The Spring Invasion/Linebacker Campaigns
    • 1973: Winding Up the War
  • Statistics
    • Loss Statistics
    • Losses Due to Air Base Attacks
    • Losses Due to Accidents on the Ground or Aboard Ship
    • US Air Force Loss Statistics
    • US Navy Loss Statistics
    • US Marine Corps Loss Statistics
  • Details
    • Order of Battle
    • Index of Names
    • Abbreviations and Glossary of Operations, Code Names, and Projects
    • Bibliography
  • Searching the Database
    • Hints on How to Search
    • Notes and Caveats
    • Search Forms
  • Photo Gallery
  • Contact Us
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