Editing Strategic bombing (section)

==== Vietnam War ====
In the [[Vietnam War]], the strategic bombing of North Vietnam in [[Operation Rolling Thunder]] could have been more extensive, but fear by the [[Lyndon Johnson|Johnson Administration]] of the entry of China into the war led to restrictions on the selection of targets, as well as only a gradual escalation of intensity.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

The aim of the bombing campaign was to demoralize the North Vietnamese, damage their economy, and reduce their capacity to support the war in the hope that they would negotiate for peace, but it failed to have those effects. The [[Richard Nixon|Nixon Administration]] continued this sort of limited strategic bombing for most of the war but pivoted towards the ending of it. [[Operation Linebacker]] campaigns were much heavier bombing campaigns taking off many of the restrictions that were placed initially and began flying B-52 bombers. Images such as that of [[Kim Phuc Phan Thi]] (although this incident was the result of [[close air support]] rather than strategic bombing) disturbed the American public enough to demand a stop to the campaign.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Due to this, and the ineffectiveness of carpet bombing (partly because of a lack of identifiable targets), new precision weapons were developed. The new weapons allowed more effective and efficient bombing with reduced civilian casualties. High civilian casualties had always been the [[hallmark]] of strategic bombing, but later in the Cold War, this began to change.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Laos was also bombed heavily during the Vietnam War. While originally denied by the US government Laos became the most heavily bombed country per capita as the result of more than 2 million tons of ordinance dropped.<ref>{{harvnb|U. S. Government|2010}}</ref> Laos contained heavy supply lines for communist troops and the US sought to destroy them safely before they could enter Vietnam and be used against American troops. The first of many targets within the country was the "Plain of Jars" which was known as a logistical center for military forces to gather and is the main air base in Urdon. While there were two different aerial operations held within Laos, Operation Steel Tiger is the one that focused on the Strategic Bombing of supporting civilian infrastructure that could aid in the up-and-coming communist regime and was assisting in getting rebels to aid the North Vietnamese military.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Strategic bombing was entering a new phase of high-intensity attacks, specifically targeting [[Factory|factories]] that take years to build and enormous investment capital. These new high-intensity and focused attacks made extra use of newer and modern fighter aircraft such as the [[McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II]] enabling less reliance on heavier, more vulnerable bombers.{{cn|date=April 2025}}