SEAD (pronounced: see-add or seed), or Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, also known as "Wild Weasels" and "Iron Hand" operations in the USA, are military actions to suppress enemy surface-based air defenses (Surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA)), primarily in, but not limited to, the first hours of an attack.
The weapons most often associated with this mission are anti-radiation missiles (ARMs) such as the American AGM-88 HARM and British ALARM. However, a weapon used for SEAD mission can be anything which damages or destroys a component of an air defense system; For example, a Paveway LGB is not a SEAD-specific munition, but when used to destroy a radar antenna it achieves the objective of Suppression of Enemy Air Defense.
Possibly the most effective type of unguided ("dumb") weapon used during SEAD strikes are cluster bombs, because many SAM sites are dispersed over a fairly wide area, in order to increase the difficulty of inflicting serious damage on the battery, and the relative "softness" of the targets (missile launchers, exposed radars, etc.). In particular, the American AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon is an effective weapon for attacking SAM sites, due to its fairly long standoff range which allows the launching aircraft to avoid being threatened by all but the longest range missiles, and its relatively large area of destruction against soft targets.
In U.S. service, SEAD missions were carried out by tactical fighters such as the F-105G Thunderchief and F-4G Phantom II. Currently the main United States Air Force (USAF) SEAD aircraft is the F-16 Fighting Falcon. These aircraft were nicknamed "Wild Weasels", and often used themselves as bait for enemy defenses. On the other hand, the Soviets preferred to use modified stand-off interceptors such as the Mikoyan MiG-25BM and missile-armed bombers such as the Tupolev Tu-22M to destroy targets from a distance, rather than the up-close method.
German Luftwaffe Tornado ECRIn European NATO air forces, the SEAD mission falls mostly to Royal Air Force Tornado GR.4s, Luftwaffe Tornado Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance variant (ECR), and Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI) Tornado ECRs. The RAF Tornados rely on the aforementioned ALARM missile and the Italian/German Tornado ECRs employ the AGM-88 HARM missile. The Tornado ECR was designed from the outset as a SEAD platform and is unique in the European NATO air order of battle. Although several European NATO aircraft can carry SEAD weapons, few were designed for, or are specifically tasked with, the dangerous SEAD mission.
