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Wild Weasel
The F-4 Phantom was not the first, nor probably the last, "Wild Weasel."
A "Wild Weasel" is an aircraft that has been modified to identify, locate and physically suppress or destroy ground-based enemy air defense systems. The aircraft launches missiles that home in on the defense system's electromagnetic energy emitted as these radar system tracks the aircraft. Simply put: If an anti-aircraft radar system is turned on for more than a few seconds, the Wild Weasel can use the radar's own signal to find and destroy it.
The original Wild Weasels were F-100F aircraft, which were developed to combat the increasing success of the anti-aircraft defense system of North Vietnam. The F-100F, paired with F-105 fighters, began flying hunter-killer sorties over North Vietnam in November 1965. Their mission was to detect and destroy radar-controlled surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and anti-aircraft artillery. But the F-100 proved too slow; and by fall 1966, converted F-105 aircraft assumed the Wild Weasel role. Called "Thud Weasels," the F-105F aircraft carried more sophisticated electronic detection and jamming equipment as well as more powerful weaponry. It flew through the end of the Vietnam War, basically serving two missions: paired with other F-105D aircraft or F-4 Phantom aircraft as a hunter-killer team, or as strike force support to bombers. Upgraded to the F-105G aircraft, it supported B-52 bomber strikes in 1972.
By 1975, the F-4G Phantom became the Wild Weasel. These modified F-4E fighters had their cannon replaced with AN/APR-38 electronic warfare equipment. About 116 F-4Es were rebuilt as F-4G aircraft to carry a pilot and an Electronic Warfare Officer. The F-4G, which first flew on Dec. 6, 1975, carried the AGM-88A/B/C High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM). It worked in tandem with other F-4G aircraft or as a hunter aircraft, directing fighter-bombers against SAM sites.
In 1991, the F-4G Phantom Wild Weasel was deployed in Operation Desert Storm. By this time, its EW System had been upgraded to an AN/APR-47 configuration. The Wild Weasels flew 2,596 sorties and obliterated Iraqi air defenses in the opening stages of the war. The aircraft fired more than 1,000 air-to-ground missiles, destroying more than 200 targets.
The F-4G Wild Weasel flew its last combat mission over Southern Iraq on Jan. 2, 1996. Shortly after, the Phantom line was retired from active service by the U.S. Air Force. It had already been retired by both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The last operational flight of the F-4 Phantom II in service to the United States was flown by the Idaho National Guard 124th Fighter Wing in an F-4G Wild Weasel on April 20, 1996, from Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho.