ITEM V 'POTENTIAL OF AIR ATTACKS AS A WEAPON TO ACHIEVE ROLLING THUNDER OBJECTIVES'
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP78S02149R000100100015-3
Release Decision:
RIFPUB
Original Classification:
T
Document Page Count:
2
Document Creation Date:
December 12, 2016
Document Release Date:
May 28, 2002
Sequence Number:
15
Case Number:
Content Type:
REPORT
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Body:
JCS - Pd` It:e t YlM A2d5 lns C'fra~ li s1R9Pf%02149R000100100015-3
ITEM V "Potential of Air Attacks as a Weapon to Achieve
ROLLING THUNDER Objectives"
Paragraph C. "Will of Regime as Target System"
Sub Item 4. "Agriculture"
1. The primary vulnerability of the DRV agricultural system
to.air attacks is the dependence on flood control and irrigation
structures for the production of wetland rice, which is the
principal food crop of the country. The water control structures
enable North Vietnam to produce two rice crops a year above 190
north and sometimes three crops a year in the south.
2. The principal areas of wetland rice are the Red River
Delta section below Hanoi, and farther south, the coastal plain
in the vicinity of the Song Ma and Song Ca Rivers. The pre-
dominate and also most vulnerable area is the Red River Delta
section. This section comprises some 6,000 square miles covered
by rice paddies. Practically the entire area would be flooded
yearly if it were not for the extensive system of levees con-
structed to contain the rivers, streams and channels.
Consequently, breaching the levee system to induce artificial
flooding that would delay-planting and/or flooding fields of
mature rice ready for harvest would greatly reduce the crop.
3. The more southern wetland rice areas are not particularly
vulnerable to annual flooding and do'not require an extensive-
levee system. Efforts to interdict and destroy the irrigation
systems would be prohibitive inasmuch as most damage could be
repaired "overnight," thus requiring a daily attack to keep
the system disrupted.
4+. The attached study indicates the effort required to
breach the levee system in the vulnerable Red River Delta
region. The study was not conducted primarily to determine
the effect on agricultural economy, however, it illustrates
the feasibility of breaching levees by air attack. It also
indicates the "by-product" of inundating military targets and
LOCs in urban areas include.-.in flood-vulnerable regions.
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Approved For Release 2002/08/20 : CIA-RDP78SO2149R00010010
Approved For Release 2002/08/20 : CIA-RDP78S02149R000100100015-3
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5. The considerations that tend to make an air attack
program against the agricultural economy marginal is the
relatively short time such a program is feasible, i.e.,
approximately two months out of the year, and.the adverse
world opinion that would result from the destruction of food
and probable loss of "innocent" lives normally connected with
floods.
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Approved For Release 2002/08/20 : CIA-RDP78S02149R000100100015-3