During the course of the Southeast Asian war, the United States developed many new types of air tactics that had never previously been needed. Invariably putting existing technology through radical redevelopment, new missions were devised, often under bizarre code-names. The Gunship The conflict in Vietnam was often referred to as the Helicopter War. Certainly, it was here that helicopters became most useful, but not only in what had previously been considered their only role as a transport vehicle. Now they were developed into specialist fighting machines, carrying cannons and rockets. The Weasels The constant threat to all American aircraft missions was the Russian built surface-to-air missile known as SAM. One counter was the Wild Weasel mission, with the motto First in and Last out. Weasel pilots would fly ahead of other aircraft, exposing themselves to enemy radar lock-on in order that the Shrike missile they carried could use that same signal to target the enemy ground base and thereby clear the way.