Operation Barrel Roll

Operation Barrel Roll
Part of the Vietnam War
Barrell Roll/Steel Tiger Areas of Operations
Date 14 December 1964 – 29 March 1973 Location Northeastern Laos Result Strategic US failure Failure to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Belligerents
United States  South Vietnam  Thailand  Laos	North Vietnam Pathet Lao
Commanders and leaders
Lyndon B. Johnson Souvanna Phouma Vang Pao	Đồng Sĩ Nguyên
Casualties and losses
U.S.: 131 aircraft	Unknown

Operation Barrel Roll was a covert interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos by the United States military between 5 March 1964 and 29 March 1973, concurrent with the Vietnam War. During the operation, U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 dropped 260 million bombs on Laos.^[1]

The operation was launched to persuade the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to stop supporting the insurgency in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). It became an interdiction campaign against North Vietnam's main logistical corridor, which ran from southwestern North Vietnam, through southeastern Laos, and into South Vietnam. The operation also increasingly provided close air support for Royal Lao Armed Forces, CIA-backed tribal mercenaries, and Thai Volunteer Defense Corps in a covert ground war in northern and northeastern Laos. Barrel Roll and the "Secret Army" attempted to stem an increasing tide of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Pathet Lao offensives.

Barrel Roll was one of the most closely held secrets of the American military commitment in Southeast Asia. Due to the ostensible neutrality of Laos, guaranteed by the Geneva Conference of 1954 and 1962, both the U.S. and North Vietnam strove to maintain the secrecy of their operations and only slowly escalated military actions there.^[2] In 1975, Laos emerged from nine years of war as devastated as any of the other Asian participants in the Vietnam War.