The acronym SAM described surface-to-air missiles used by the North Vietnamese against United States Navy and Air Force bombers and
fighter-bombers. The standard SAM was the Soviet SA-2 Guideline, a two-stage missile equipped with a 285-pound warhead and a maximum
range of 30 miles. The first SA-2 Guidelines were deployed in the summer of 1965, and by the end of the war more than 200 SA-2 sites were
operational, most of them protecting Hanoi and Haiphong. Because of the United States "Wild Weasel" program and various other electronic
jamming efforts, the North Vietnamese used 150 SA-2s for every American aircraft they destroyed.
And Other Vietnam War Short Stories
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