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munitions expended in countering the North Vietnamese and prior to the cease-fire to bring the force structure up to authorized levels. Major equipment delivered to the army included three 175 mm artillery battalions, two M-48 tank battalions, two air defense battalions, and one hundred wire-guided antitank weapons as well as numerous aircraft and ships. The U.S. Air Force established a similar program to modernize the Vietnamese Air Force. The South’s main advantages over the communists were in their firepower and tactical and strategic mobility. All three services contributed to these advantages: the VNAF, the Vietnamese Navy, and the ARVN armor and artillery.
    The massive North Vietnam Easter Offensive in 1972 included major attacks in MR-1, -2, and -3, which were eventually turned back by allied troops and the U.S. and Vietnamese air forces. Air power played a pivotal role, providing much of the tactical firepower interdicting the enemy supply lines, and ultimately carrying the war into North Vietnamproper. The destruction wrought by B-52 strikes against attacking North Vietnamese forces and their logistical base areas was awesome. However, in situations like the siege of An Loc—where enemy SA-7 shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles were used—the slow-flying helicopters and C-123s were not capable of sustained operations. At the conclusion of the offensive all sides had learned valuable lessons, but foremost among them was that the ARVN required and relied on close air support to be effective against large-unit attacks. With the dispersed disposition of forces, with outposts generally out of artillery range and ground mobility limited by terrain and distance, the air force’s quick response capabilities would also be a very critical element, since aircraft provided firepower and tactical as well as strategic mobility.
    One of the purposes of President Richard Nixon’s December 1972 resumption of bombing was to force North Vietnam to the peace table. And it did. Among the provisions in the negotiations was that military equipment could be replaced only on an item-for-item basis. This led to an all-out effort to provide the VNAF with the assets necessary to protect South Vietnam. This program to augment and modernize the air force was called ENHANCE PLUS. The improvement of the VNAF had begun in earnest in 1970. Actually, the rate of expansion since 1970 was more than the VNAF could absorb. Also, in the few months prior to the cease-fire, ENHANCE PLUS increased the size of the air force by 45 percent, providing an additional 685 aircraft. When the United States departed Vietnam in early 1973, the air force was left with twenty-five different types of aircraft, including 1,099 fixed-wing aircraft and 1,098 helicopters. This inventory far exceeded the force’s capabilities to maintain them. 29 Consequently, U.S. contractors had to fill the gap in maintenance and depot support. Rationalizing the situation, in 1973 the air force retired several types of older and less effective aircraft, thereby reducing the inventory to 1,857 aircraft, organized into sixty-six squadrons. In 1973 and early 1974 the VNAF met its basic requirements of providing close air support, ensuring the critical redeployment of ground troops, providing intelligence, and securing the established lines of communications.
    In 1972, the U.S. Air Force flew 58,395 tactical sorties, an order of magnitude greater than the number flown by VNAF. However, theVietnamese pilots attempted to pick up the slack caused by the withdrawal of U.S. Air Force combat support. This improved the number of bomber, observation, and helicopter sorties appreciably over the 1972 levels.
    In August 1973, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution that required the complete disengagement of U.S. combat forces in Southeast Asia. 5 The immediate effect was to stop the U.S. Air Force support of combat in Cambodia; all U.S. air combat activities were terminated.