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[1]Operation Popeye / Sober Popeye (Project Controlled Weather Popeye / Motorpool / Intermediary-Compatriot) was a militarycloud-seeding project carried out by theU.S. Air Force during theVietnam War in 1967–1972. The highly classified program attempted to extend themonsoon season over specific areas of theHo Chi Minh Trail, to disrupt North Vietnamese military supplies by softening road surfaces and causing landslides.
The chemical weather modification program was conducted from Thailand over Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and allegedly sponsored bySecretary of StateHenry Kissinger and the CIA without the authorization of then Secretary of DefenseMelvin Laird, who had categorically denied to Congress that a program for modification of the weather for use as a tactical weapon even existed.[2]
A report titledRainmaking in SEASIA outlines use oflead iodide andsilver iodide deployed by aircraft in a program that was developed in California atNaval Air Weapons Station China Lake and tested in Okinawa, Guam, the Philippines, Texas, and Florida in a hurricane study program calledProject Stormfury.[3][4]
Operation 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:[5]
The goal of the operation was to extend days of rainfall by about 30 to 45 days each monsoon season.[6]
The54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron carried out the operation using the slogan "make mud, not war."[7] Starting on 20 March 1967, and continuing through everyrainy season (March to November) in Southeast Asia until 1972, operational cloud seeding missions were flown. ThreeC-130 Hercules aircraft and twoF-4C Phantom aircraft based atUdon 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".[8]
ReporterJack 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 thePentagon Papers[9] and a 3 July 1972, article in theNew York Times.[10]
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