*+-As part of the US’s attempt to win the Vietnam War, the US military undertook a secret weather manipulation operation in South East Asia. More than US$3 million was spent from 1967 to 1972 as the secret project sought to make the monsoon season longer and flood the Ho Chi Minh trail, which was being used by the North Vietnamese as a supply route. It was hoped that the extra rains would cause rivers to flood cutting off bridges and crossings, as well as landslides. It was the first military operation that attempted to influence the weather. Some saw it as a positive alternative to fighting and bombing. The operation included creating clouds over South East Asia using silver iodide. American jets made about 2000 sorties to create the clouds. The cloud making units were attached to the side of WC-130A Hercules aircraft. General Electric and the US military had already previously worked together to attempt to control weather systems, after World War Two. Whether the program was successful or not remains debated. Some agree that the manmade clouds created between one and seven inches of rainfall every year of the operation. However, no data was retrieved from the operation so it can never be corroborated. Meanwhile General Westmoreland,who was commander of US military operations during the Vietnam War, did not believe the cloud units had created any great increase in rain in the region. As details of the project began to leak into the public domain many showed concern.
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