SEAD

Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) is the mission of neutralizing, destroying, or temporarily degrading enemy air defense systems to create windows of access for friendly strike aircraft. SEAD typically uses a combination of anti-radiation missiles that home in on radar emissions, standoff jamming to blind enemy sensors, and decoys to confuse air defense operators into revealing their positions.

The U.S. military pioneered modern SEAD tactics during the Vietnam War with the "Wild Weasel" program, using F-105 and later F-4 aircraft equipped with radar-warning receivers and AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles to hunt and destroy North Vietnamese SAM sites. The concept has evolved through Desert Storm, where SEAD operations systematically dismantled Iraq's integrated air defense network, establishing a template that has been refined in every subsequent air campaign.

Modern SEAD depends on dedicated platforms like the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, anti-radiation missiles like the AGM-88 HARM and its successor the AARGM-ER, and increasingly on cyber and electronic warfare effects that can disable air defense networks without kinetic attack. The growing sophistication of integrated air defense systems, particularly Russia's S-400 and China's HQ-9, has made SEAD one of the most challenging and critical missions in modern air warfare.