Operation Popeye Vietnamn War Weather Warfare

Environmental Modification (ENMOD) Treaty in 1977Operation Popeye's goal was to increase rainfall in carefully selected areas to deny the Vietnamese enemy, namely military supply trucks, the use of roads by:

The 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron carried out the operation using the slogan "make mud, not war."[6] Starting on March 20, 1967, and continuing through every rainy season (March to November) in Southeast Asia until 1972, operational cloud seeding missions were flown. Three C-130 Hercules aircraft and two F-4C Phantom aircraft based at Udon Thani Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand flew two sorties per day. The aircraft were officially on weather reconnaissance missions and the aircraft crews as part of their normal duty also generated weather report data. The crews, all from the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, were rotated into the operation on a regular basis from Guam. Inside the squadron, the rainmaking operations were code-named "Motorpool".[7]

Public revelation
Reporter Jack Anderson published a story in March 1971 concerning Operation Popeye (though in his column, it was called Intermediary-Compatriot). The name Operation Popeye (Pop Eye) entered the public space through a brief mention in the Pentagon Papers[8] and a July 3, 1972, article in the New York Times.[9] Operations in Laos ceased two days after the publication of the Times article

TO:
Softening road surfaces
Causing landslides along roadways
Washing out river crossings
Maintaining saturated soil conditions beyond the normal time span.
The goal of the operation was to extend days of rainfall by about 30 to 45 days each monsoon season.[5]