Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report. Short Rounds January 1972 - August 1973
Abstract
The term "short round," of artillery inception, originally described a shell which fell short of its intended target. In the past, Air Force usage of this term was defined as: "The air delivery of ordnance which results in injury or death to friendly military forces or noncombatants." In July 1972, however, an accident occurred in Laos which nearly resulted in an international incident because the definition of a short round did not cover the inadvertent delivery of ordnance on installations without injury to personnel. Because there were no casualties, this incident was not reported until the Vientiane press accused the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of an assassination attempt on a provincial governor. This incident was then classified as a short round, and an emergency change to Seventh Air Force Manual (7AFM) 55-1 was enacted on 8 September 1972 to modify the definition of a short round. Thus: "A short round is...the unintentional or inadvertent air delivery of ordnance on friendly troops, installations, or civilians by a friendly weapon system," with or without casual ties. This is the sixth and final Southeast Asia (SEA) short round report, and covers the period from January 1972 through August 1973, the last month of American air operations in SEA. The report describes all confirmed short round cases which resulted from ordnance expended by fixed wing aircraft under the control of the 7AF Tactical Air Control Center.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA486931
Entities
People
- William R. Burditt
Organizations
- Pacific Air Forces