Air War Over North Vietnam: Operation Rolling Thunder-北越空战：滚雷行动

作者：Stephen Emerson

书名：Air War Over North Vietnam: Operation Rolling Thunder, 1965–1968《北越空战：滚雷行动，1965-1968年》

中文简介：滚雷行动（Operation Rolling Thunder）是由美国空军第2航空师（即后来的美国第七航空队）、美国海军和越南共和国空军（南越空军），于1965年3月2日至1968年11月1日对越南民主共和国（北越）进行的轰炸行动，此为越南战争的一部分。

滚雷行动有四个目标（这四个目标是随着行动的发展而制订的，并非一开始就决定好了的）：增强南越西贡当局的低落士气；迫使北越放弃对南越境内共产主义暴动的支持；摧毁北越的运输系统，工业基地和空防系统；并且阻截由北越向南越境内开进的人员和物资。由于冷战的严峻形势，美国不敢放开手脚；又因为北越还从苏联和中国这两个社会主义盟国得到了援助，所以要达成这些目标并不容易。

这次行动是冷战时期进行的最激烈的空中／地面战斗，也是第二次世界大战对德国的轰炸之后，美国海空军参与过最艰难的战斗。由于北越获得盟国的援助，拥有了精良的空对空和地对空武器系统，使得美国的空中轰炸与地面攻击皆十分困难。

英文简介：In early 1965 the United States unleashed the largest sustained aerial bombing campaign since World War II, against North Vietnam. Through an ever escalating onslaught of destruction, Operation Rolling Thunder intended to signal America’s unwavering commitment to its South Vietnamese ally in the face of continued North Vietnamese aggression, break Hanoi’s political will to prosecute the war, and bring about a negotiated settlement to the conflict. It was not to be. Against the backdrop of the Cold War and fears of widening the conflict into a global confrontation, Washington policy makers micromanaged and mismanaged the air campaign and increasingly muddled strategic objectives and operational methods that ultimately sowed the seeds of failure, despite the heroic sacrifices by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots and crews 

Despite flying some 306,000 combat sorties and dropping 864,000 tons of ordnance on North Vietnam – 42 per cent more than that used in the Pacific theater during World War II – Operation Rolling Thunder failed to drive Hanoi decisively to the negotiating table and end the war. That would take another four years and another air campaign. But by building on the hard earned political and military lessons of the past, the Nixon Administration and American military commanders would get another chance to prove themselves when they implemented operations Linebacker I and II in May and December 1972\. And this time the results would be vastly different.