Chapter 1

A roles-and-missions discussion of the ARDF programs in April 1966, between the Chief of Staff of the Army and Air Force, let to an increase in the required number of PHYLLIS ANN aircraft from 35 to 47. Only a few aspects of that discussion are known. It is clear that in March 1966, the JCS approved CINCPAC's request for 35 C-47 aircraft, but also requested the Army to add 41 U-6/U-8 aircraft to the 30 which, by that time, were in RVN. A month later, and apparently after the roles-and-missions discussion", the JCS stated a mix of 57 Army U-6 and 47 USAF C-47 ARDF aircraft could meet the COMUSMACV requirement of 2,424 hours per week, and directed the Chiefs of Staff of the Army and Air Force to carry out the necessary deployments.

The net effect of theJCS decision was to split the ARDF responsibility between the Army and the Air Force. The joint USAF/USA force of 104 aircraft would give MACV a 16-hour per day ARDF coverage for all of RVN and the Laotian Panhandle. The basis for dividing the responsibility was the number of ARDF aircraft positions possessed by each service (one per aircraft). The slightly larger number of Army aircraft in the joint force compensated for the greater endurance of the RC-47.

USAF/USA New Focus Agreement

To handle questions as to responsibilities of each service in the ARDF mission, the Army and Air Force Chiefs of Staff established the New Focus Committee, in the Pentagon, composed of a general officer from each service. On 11 September 1967, these Chiefs of Staff signed a memorandum for the New Focus Committee on the ARDF program which stated: