Phu Cat Air Base Security Forces
Encyclopedia
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
were Air Police and Security Police squadrons responsible for the air base ground defense of Phu Cat Air Base
Phu Cat Air Base
Phu Cat Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force military airfield in Vietnam. It is located northwest of Qui Nhon in Binh Dinh Province....
in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Phu Cat AB was the field test site for the six-month combat evaluation of the 1041st USAF Security Police Squadron (Test) from 16 January to 4 July 1967. The 1041st patrolled 26 miles of outer perimeter under Project Safe Side to evaluate the feasibility of developing a USAF air base ground defense
Air Base Ground Defense
Air Base Ground Defense is the operational term used by the United States Air Force to denote ground combat operations in defense of U.S. Air Force bases. This specialty is filled by members of the Air Force Security Forces, who serve not only as Police/Law Enforcement officers, but as ground...
(ABGD) force. Its experiences were a direct precursor to the development of the Security Force-concept in use today by the USAF.
Units primarily responsible for base security were the 37th Security Police Squadron between 1 August 1966 and 31 March 1970, and the 12th Security Police Squadron from 1 April 1970 to 17 November 1971, when its parent 12th Tactical Fighter Wing was inactivated. These squadrons were periodically augmented by sections of combat security police on temporary duty in SVN under the designation 821st Combat Security Police Squadron. After the drawdown of U.S. forces at Phu Cat AB in 1971, the base and its security were turned over to the South Vietnamese Air Force.
History
On 1 August, Capt Robert M. Sullivan and 53 air policemen (including six sentry dog/handler teams) were transferred from the 366th Air Police Squadron at Phan Rang Air BasePhan Rang Air Base
Phan Rang Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force military airfield in Vietnam. It is located north-northwest of Phan Rang-Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan Province....
to be the cadre for the newly-activated 37th Air Police Squadron at Qui Nhon
Qui Nhon
Qui Nhơn , also Quy Nhơn, is a coastal city in Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of 286 km². Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2009 its population was 280,900. Historically, the commercial activities of the city...
. Their first assignment was to escort 63 engineers of the 554th and 555th Civil Engineer Squadrons to Phu Cat, and then to assume security of the base site. The RED HORSE contingent constructed a camp for the 819th CES (Heavy Repair), tasked to build the base but still training at Forbes Air Force Base
Forbes Air Force Base
Forbes Field, previously Forbes Air Force Base, is a joint-use civil-military airport operated by the Topeka Airport Authority located approximately south of Topeka, Kansas....
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. A 55-man advance party from the 819th CES arrived directly from the United States on 6 August, followed by the entire squadron a month later, and began construction of all vertical structures on the base.
19 September 1966 marked activation of 37th Combat Support Group, slated to be a support component of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing. During construction, internal base security was provided by the severely understrength 37th APS, then having only 240 APs assigned and forced to augment its ranks with 100 non-security airmen from the 37th Combat Support Group and 162 from the 819th CES. The 1041st USAF Security Police Squadron (Test), an experimental infantry-type air police unit, was deployed to Phu Cat in the first half of 1967 to increase ground defense security under Project Safe Side.
Operation Safe Side
The 226 men of the 1041st SPS (Test) trained in patrolling and intelligence-gathering for 15 weeks (5 September to 16 December 1966) at Schofield Barracks, HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, under a cadre trained at the US Army Ranger School
Ranger School
The United States Army Ranger School is an intense 61-day combat leadership course oriented towards small-unit tactics. It has been called the "toughest combat course in the world" and "is the most physically and mentally demanding leadership school the Army has to offer". The course is conducted...
. There its organization structure was finalized, consisting of a squadron headquarters (an officer and 38 enlisted men) for administration and evaluation; and an observation and surveillance flight (an officer and 37 EM), a close combat flight (two officers and 78 EM), a weapons support flight (one officer and 31 EM), an operations section (one officer and 21 EM), and a scout dog
War dog
Dogs in warfare have a long history starting in ancient times. From 'war dogs' trained in combat to their use as scouts, sentries and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military usage.-History:...
section (15 enlisted men and nine dogs) as combat elements. Vehicles assigned the unit were 28 M151A1 Jeeps, seven M37 ¾ ton trucks, two M35 2½ ton cargo trucks, and three armored personnel carriers.
Its basic tactical units were 16 six-man fire teams, each equipped with an M-60 machine gun and a grenade launcher. The squadron was proficient in all infantry weapons including mortars
M29 Mortar
The M29 is a United States produced 81 millimeter calibre mortar. It began replacing the M1 Mortar in U.S. service in 1952 being lighter and with greater range. It was replaced by the M252 Mortar in 1984...
. It was equipped with three own weapons-mounted M113 armored personnel carrier
M113 armored personnel carrier
The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier that has formed the backbone of the United States Army's mechanized infantry units from the time of its first fielding in Vietnam in April 1962. The M113 was the most widely used armored vehicle of the U.S...
s (APC) for off-road mobility, supplemented by helicopters. A Tactical Security Support Equipment (TSSE) system consisting of buried seismic detectors and sensors called Multiple Conductor Intrusion Devices enhanced its capability of monitoring intrusions. Armory and headquarters personnel were trained in demolition.
During its 179-day tour at Phu Cat, the 1041st conducted 651 patrols, 155 ambushes, and destroyed more than 350 tunnels and fortifications without suffering any fatalities. The Safe Side evaluation and findings report recommended that the Air Force create ten combat security police squadrons, each with 21 officers and 538 enlisted men, organized into three security flights of 167 men per flight, and detailed a TO&E. USAF accepted the organizational model but created only three squadrons.
Threat response after July 1967
Affecting all units and personnel stationed at Phu Cat AB was the threat of communist mortarM1938 mortar
The Soviet M1938 120-millimeter mortar was the first modern 120 mm mortar developed by any country, entering production in 1939. The Red Army made significant use of its heavy caliber by treating it as an artillery piece in World War II. The Germans were impressed by the weapon and adopted it...
and rocket
Rocket artillery
Rocket artillery is a type of artillery equipped with rocket launchers instead of conventional guns or mortars.Types of rocket artillery pieces include multiple rocket launchers.-History:...
attacks. Until 1969 the base was relatively secure from stand-off and sapper
Sapper
A sapper, pioneer or combat engineer is a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties, typically including, but not limited to, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, general construction and building, as well as road and airfield...
attack because of the number of South Korean (ROK) and US Army units patrolling the area. Using the operations plan developed by the 1041st SP Squadron, the 37th Air Police Squadron, redesignated as a "Security Police" unit in June 1967, had its strength brought up to 396 men to provide inside-the-perimeter base security.
The 37th SPS (redesignated the 12th SPS on 1 April 1970) reorganized its three TO&E weapons system security flights into tailored units dubbed "Ranger," "Tiger," and "Cobra" Flights, with approximately two-thirds of the available manpower (240 men) assigned to the night duty Cobra Flight. Cobra Flight scheduled overlapping night shifts to optimize coverage, supplemented by a non-standard patrol/mortar section ("Sniper-Ambush team") created within the flight. Initially trained by the 1041st during its phaseout, it also conducted patrols outside the air base perimeter and used armored vehicles for blocking forces and ammunition resupply. As base units were either withdrawn or downsized, security patrols gradually decreased.
The base experienced three sapper attacks that penetrated its perimeter between 22 February 1969 and 4 April 1970, and thirteen stand-off rocket and mortar attacks between 17 June 1969 and 24 February 1971, resulting in sixteen damaged aircraft, two deaths, and 28 wounded. All of the sapper attacks were defeated by security forces, resulting in the deaths of six NVA sappers and the capture of one. In the early morning of 12 February 1971 two security policemen of a 12th SPS security alert team were killed when a command-detonated land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
exploded under their jeep just outside the northern perimeter of the base.
Between 9 September 1969 and 1 February 1972, a heavy weapons and small unit tactics school was operated at Phu Cat AB by the 821st Combat Security Police Squadron and later the 35th Security Police Squadron. On 17 November 1969, the law enforcement section of the 37th SPS opened the first Correctional Custodial Facility in the Seventh Air Force.
Phu Cat Air Base ground defense plan
The air base ground defense plan for Phu Cat AB consisted of a three-zone sector plan. This was closely adapted from the "three-ring model of defense in depth" tested by Safe Side.The outermost or preventive perimeter zone, a barrier and sensor defense generally located along the perimeter of the installation, consisted of a single line of triple-strand concertina wire
Concertina wire
Concertina wire or Dannert Wire is a type of barbed wire or razor wire that is formed in large coils which can be expanded like a concertina. In conjunction with plain barbed wire and steel pickets, it is used to form military wire obstacles....
strung along a 16 kilometer-long "main line of resistance" (MLR), with areas in front of the wire protected by minefields. Between the spring of 1969 and 1970, the 485th GEEIA (Ground Electronics Engineering Installation Agency) Squadron and Air Force Systems Command
Air Force Systems Command
Air Force Systems Command is a former United States Air Force command. Its headquarters was located at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland...
tested Project Safe Look at Phu Cat AB. This prototype Perimeter Detection and Surveillance Subsystem (PDSS) combined sensors of a pressure-sensitive Westinghouse Balanced Pressure System with a magnetically-sensitive Honeywell
Honeywell
Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
Multi-Concealed Instrumentation Detection System, both buried in front of the north defense sector. These were integrated with the AN/PPS-5/PPS-12 ground surveillance radars
Perimeter Surveillance Radar
Perimeter Surveillance Radar is a class of radar sensors that monitor activity surrounding or on critical infrastructure areas such as airports, seaports, military installations, national borders, refineries and other critical industry and the like...
already in use by the USAF. The system worked well under optimum conditions, but suffered high-maintenance costs and degraded performance in high winds and rain. The system had not been field-tested in the United States, and because the intended combat test did not result in many hostile contacts, 37th SPS contributed approximately 12,500 man-hours simulating infiltrations for tests of the sensors. The high maintenance cost, waste of security man-hours, and drawdown of U.S. forces in Vietnam for whom the system was intended resulted in its discontinuation in mid-1970. Programmed perimeter defense plans for complete fencing and installation of permanent lighting were never brought to fruition. Key points were defended using portable, generator
Electrical generator
In electricity generation, an electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electric charge to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is analogous to a water pump, which causes water to flow...
-run NF-2 Light-All million-candlepower
Candlepower
Candlepower is a now-obsolete unit which was used to express levels of light intensity in terms of the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents...
floodlight
High-intensity discharge lamp
High-intensity discharge lamps are a type of electrical lamp which produces light by means of an electric arc between tungsten electrodes housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz or fused alumina arc tube. This tube is filled with both gas and metal salts. The gas facilitates the...
units, nicknamed "Big Lights", first tested as part of Project Safe Look and later deployed throughout the Air Force; and night vision devices were particularly effective at Phu Cat AB.
The second or secondary defense zone, a penetration containment defense (interception and neutralization by mobile reaction teams), consisted of a line of twenty observation towers ("Tango"s), supplemented by observation posts built on higher elevations, known as "rook towers" ("Romeo"s). Sentry dog/handler posts ("Kilos"s) were assigned forward of the tower (and later bunker) line to patrol between the first and second defense lines to provide early warning of intrusion. At its peak strength in 1970, Phu Cat AB's military war dog section had 66 dogs authorized, and 45 dogs assigned. The sentry dog patrols were supported in the secondary defense zone by motorized Security Alert Teams (SATs or "Sierra"s), six during daylight hours and nine after dark. These two- or three-man patrols used radio-equipped M151 "jeeps", each mounting an M-60 machine gun, to investigate intrusion alerts, and beginning in 1969 employed two XM-706 armored cars and three M113 APCs previously obtained from the Army by the 1041st SPS for SAT transport and Cobra Flight activities. Both types of armored vehicles mounted .50 caliber machine guns. In 1969 the 37th SPS obtained two GAU-2B/A 7.62mm miniguns
Minigun
The Minigun is a 7.62 mm, multi-barrel heavy machine gun with a high rate of fire , employing Gatling-style rotating barrels with an external power source...
from the special operations squadron detachment at Phu Cat for mounting on its armored vehicles. Near the end of 1969 much of the secondary zone was sprayed with herbicide
Herbicide
Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...
, then bulldozed, almost completely eradicating vegetation but also eliminating concealment for the dog/handler teams.
The innermost or close-in defense zone, a point defense of priority assets (controlled entry and static defense), consisted of low profile sandbag-protected bunkers ("Bravo"s) for anti-sapper point defense of the flight line and personnel areas. However small arms fire restrictions in the free-fire areas resulted in the relocation of most bunkers to near the MLR in mid-1969, in an ultimately futile hope of integrating the bunkers with the proposed fence and lighting program. Cobra Flight maintained five M29 81mm mortar
M29 Mortar
The M29 is a United States produced 81 millimeter calibre mortar. It began replacing the M1 Mortar in U.S. service in 1952 being lighter and with greater range. It was replaced by the M252 Mortar in 1984...
pits and a fire direction center, primarily for illumination purposes, and each observation tower was equipped with an azimuth board.
Each flight maintained a Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of six to thirteen security policemen to respond to penetrations of the perimeter, transported in trucks storing weaponry needed. The security force was supplemented by manpower augmentation ("augmentees" officially; "Augie Doggies" colloquially) of approximately 100 non-security police airmen, and from August 1969 to December 1969 by two 33-man sections of combat security police deployed on temporary duty to Vietnam. Nightly air cover was provided by an orbitting AC-47 Spooky
AC-47 Spooky
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky was the first in a series of gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War...
gunship, which patrolled mainly the "rocket belt" surrounding the air base, but operational control was not given local commanders. Because Phu Cat never experienced a direct infantry attack, the AC-47 patrol was commonly diverted to priority missions resulting in a lapse of coverage of up to 50 minutes while a replacement AC-47 was scrambled from Nha Trang.
A forward observation post was maintained outside the perimeter, approximately one mile from the flight line, atop Hill 151, also known as "Bordner Hill," in bunkers and trenches previously held by Korean troops. A four-man security team was flown by HH-43 Pedro helicopters of the rescue detachment to the position, known in the defense plan by its voice call sign Oregon, for seven-day rotations.