139-577: The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project ( AFSWP ) was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapons remaining under military control after the Manhattan Project was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission on 1 January 1947. These responsibilities included the maintenance, storage, surveillance, security and handling of nuclear weapons, as well as supporting nuclear testing . The AFSWP
278-538: A C-54 or C-97 transport aircraft. In November 1947, the 38th Engineer Battalion carried out its first major field exercise, Operation Ajax. It drew bomb components, except for fissile cores, from the AEC, and deployed by air to Wendover Field, Utah . This was the home of the 509th Bombardment Group , which was the only unit operating Silverplate B-29 bombers, and therefore the only B-29 group capable of delivering nuclear weapons. To simulate operational conditions, they took
417-513: A misnomer , as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom, just as it does with fusion weapons. In fission weapons, a mass of fissile material ( enriched uranium or plutonium ) is forced into supercriticality —allowing an exponential growth of nuclear chain reactions —either by shooting one piece of sub-critical material into another (the "gun" method) or by compression of a sub-critical sphere or cylinder of fissile material using chemically fueled explosive lenses . The latter approach,
556-665: A policy of deliberate ambiguity , it does not acknowledge having them. Germany , Italy , Turkey , Belgium , the Netherlands , and Belarus are nuclear weapons sharing states. South Africa is the only country to have independently developed and then renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons aims to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons, but there are different views of its effectiveness. There are two basic types of nuclear weapons: those that derive
695-517: A Military Liaison Committee to advise the AEC on military matters, so Patterson appointed Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton , who became chairman, along with Major General Lunsford E. Oliver and Colonel John H. Hinds as Army members of the Military Liaison Committee; Forrestal appointed Rear Admirals Thorvald A. Solberg , Ralph A. Ofstie and William S. Parsons as its naval members. Patterson asked Groves to create
834-580: A Navy special weapons unit, as the Navy foresaw delivery of nuclear weapons with its new North American AJ Savage bombers from its Midway -class aircraft carriers . This unit became the 471st Naval Special Weapons Unit on its certification in August 1948. Two Air Force units were created in September and December 1948, which became the 502d and 508th Aviation Squadrons. An additional Army special weapons unit
973-736: A civilian agency, the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), to take over the functions and assets of the Manhattan Project, but the commissioners were not appointed until October, and AEC did not assume its role until 1 January 1947. In the meantime, the Military Appropriation Act of 1946 gave the Manhattan Project $ 72.4 million for research and development, and $ 19 million for housing and utilities at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge. The Atomic Energy Act provided for
1112-600: A combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb ), producing a nuclear explosion . Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter . The first test of a fission ("atomic") bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to 20,000 tons of TNT (84 TJ ). The first thermonuclear ("hydrogen") bomb test released energy approximately equal to 10 million tons of TNT (42 PJ). Nuclear bombs have had yields between 10 tons TNT (the W54 ) and 50 megatons for
1251-696: A conference—called for in the manifesto—in Pugwash, Nova Scotia , Eaton's birthplace. This conference was to be the first of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs , held in July 1957. By the 1960s, steps were taken to limit both the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries and the environmental effects of nuclear testing . The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) restricted all nuclear testing to underground nuclear testing , to prevent contamination from nuclear fallout, whereas
1390-559: A decade had passed since the legislation which had established it, and he was concerned about the degree of inter-service rivalry, duplication and mismanagement that was evident in many programs. In ballistic missile development, the Soviet Sputnik program had demonstrated that country's technological lead over the United States. The Army and Air Force had rival programs, PGM-19 Jupiter and PGM-17 Thor respectively, and
1529-458: A faster and less vulnerable attack, the development of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has given some nations the ability to plausibly deliver missiles anywhere on the globe with a high likelihood of success. More advanced systems, such as multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), can launch multiple warheads at different targets from one missile, reducing
SECTION 10
#17327811287051668-443: A few days the bomb had to be partially disassembled so they could be re-charged (and, only three days after that, replaced). The 38th Engineer Battalion's electrical group studied the batteries, the electrical firing systems and the radar fuzes which detonated the bomb at the required altitude. The mechanical group dealt with the exploding-bridgewire detonators and the explosive lenses . The nuclear group moved to Los Alamos to study
1807-614: A few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them. The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons—and acknowledge possessing them—are (chronologically by date of first test) the United States , the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia ), the United Kingdom , France , China , India , Pakistan , and North Korea . Israel is believed to possess nuclear weapons, though, in
1946-512: A few, its role and organization remained much the same, and its commander, Rear Admiral Edward N. Parker, remained as its first director. Eisenhower's proposed nuclear testing moratorium ultimately fundamentally changed DASA's mission, as nuclear testing was phased out, Cold War tensions eased, and nuclear disarmament became a prospect. Nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions , either fission (fission bomb) or
2085-492: A fission bomb to initiate them. Such a device might provide a simpler path to thermonuclear weapons than one that required the development of fission weapons first, and pure fusion weapons would create significantly less nuclear fallout than other thermonuclear weapons because they would not disperse fission products. In 1998, the United States Department of Energy divulged that the United States had, "...made
2224-421: A fusion weapon as of January 2016 , though this claim is disputed. Thermonuclear weapons are considered much more difficult to successfully design and execute than primitive fission weapons. Almost all of the nuclear weapons deployed today use the thermonuclear design because it results in an explosion hundreds of times stronger than that of a fission bomb of similar weight. Thermonuclear bombs work by using
2363-415: A great deal of work remained to improve their ease of assembly, safety, reliability and storage before they were ready for production. There were also many improvements to their performance that had been suggested or recommended, but not possible under the pressure of wartime development. Groves's biggest concern was about people. Soldiers and scientists wanted to return to their peacetime pursuits, and there
2502-472: A nation's economic electronics-based infrastructure. Because the effect is most effectively produced by high altitude nuclear detonations (by military weapons delivered by air, though ground bursts also produce EMP effects over a localized area), it can produce damage to electronics over a wide, even continental, geographical area. Research has been done into the possibility of pure fusion bombs : nuclear weapons that consist of fusion reactions without requiring
2641-629: A national duty to defend the Singapore city-state island. They must serve a mandatory two-year active period as Full-Time National Servicemen (NSFs), deployed to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Force (SPF), or the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). When a Singapore conscript completes his active service, he attains the status of being an "operationally ready" citizen-soldier, and
2780-610: A new agency to take over responsibility for the aspects of nuclear weapons that still remained under the military. It was to be jointly staffed by the Army and Navy, and on 29 January 1947, Patterson and Forrestal issued a memorandum that formally established the AFSWP. Its chief would be appointed jointly by the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Chief of Naval Operations , along with a deputy from
2919-537: A new nuclear strategy, one that is distinct from that which gave relative stability during the Cold War. Since 1996, the United States has had a policy of allowing the targeting of its nuclear weapons at terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction . Robert Gallucci argues that although traditional deterrence is not an effective approach toward terrorist groups bent on causing a nuclear catastrophe, Gallucci believes that "the United States should instead consider
SECTION 20
#17327811287053058-508: A new, permanent agency would be created to take over the responsibilities of the wartime Manhattan Project in 1945, but passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 through Congress took much longer than expected, and involved considerable debate about the proper role of the military with respect to the development, production and control of nuclear weapons. The act that was signed by President Harry S. Truman on 1 August 1946 created
3197-425: A nuclear war between two nations would result in mutual annihilation. From this point of view, the significance of nuclear weapons is to deter war because any nuclear war would escalate out of mutual distrust and fear, resulting in mutually assured destruction . This threat of national, if not global, destruction has been a strong motivation for anti-nuclear weapons activism. Critics from the peace movement and within
3336-411: A nuclear weapon from another country by threatening nuclear retaliation is known as the strategy of nuclear deterrence . The goal in deterrence is to always maintain a second strike capability (the ability of a country to respond to a nuclear attack with one of its own) and potentially to strive for first strike status (the ability to destroy an enemy's nuclear forces before they could retaliate). During
3475-465: A nuclear weapon is a gravity bomb dropped from aircraft ; this was the method used by the United States against Japan in 1945. This method places few restrictions on the size of the weapon. It does, however, limit attack range, response time to an impending attack, and the number of weapons that a country can field at the same time. With miniaturization, nuclear bombs can be delivered by both strategic bombers and tactical fighter-bombers . This method
3614-409: A nuclear weapon to its target is an important factor affecting both nuclear weapon design and nuclear strategy . The design, development, and maintenance of delivery systems are among the most expensive parts of a nuclear weapons program; they account, for example, for 57% of the financial resources spent by the United States on nuclear weapons projects since 1940. The simplest method for delivering
3753-433: A nuclear weapon with suitable materials (such as cobalt or gold ) creates a weapon known as a salted bomb . This device can produce exceptionally large quantities of long-lived radioactive contamination . It has been conjectured that such a device could serve as a "doomsday weapon" because such a large quantity of radioactivities with half-lives of decades, lifted into the stratosphere where winds would distribute it around
3892-421: A policy of expanded deterrence, which focuses not solely on the would-be nuclear terrorists but on those states that may deliberately transfer or inadvertently leak nuclear weapons and materials to them. By threatening retaliation against those states, the United States may be able to deter that which it cannot physically prevent.". Graham Allison makes a similar case, arguing that the key to expanded deterrence
4031-481: A proposed table of organization and equipment for an assembly team. It took two weeks for them to assemble their first bomb in December 1946. Most of 1947 was spent planning for a field exercise in which a bomb team would deploy to a base and assemble weapons under field conditions. A 20-foot (6.1 m) by 100-foot (30 m) portable building was acquired and outfitted as field workshops that could be loaded onto
4170-739: A reservist has been around, in many forms, for thousands of years. In ancient times, reservist forces such as the Anglo-Saxon Fyrd and the Viking Leidangr formed the main fighting strength of most armies. It was only at the end of the 17th century that professional standing armies became the norm. Historically reservists played a significant role in Europe after the Prussian defeat in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt . On 9 July 1807 in
4309-620: A roundabout route via New England and Seattle . Over the following ten days, they assembled bombs and flew training missions with them, including a live drop at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at Inyokern, California . This was followed by other exercises. In one exercise in March 1948, the base personnel successfully fought off an "attack" by 250 paratroopers from Fort Hood, Texas . In another exercise in November 1948,
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project - Misplaced Pages Continue
4448-447: A significant portion of their energy from fission reactions used to "trigger" fusion reactions, and fusion reactions can themselves trigger additional fission reactions. Only six countries—the United States , Russia , the United Kingdom , China , France , and India —have conducted thermonuclear weapon tests. Whether India has detonated a "true" multi-staged thermonuclear weapon is controversial. North Korea claims to have tested
4587-428: A soundproof conference room, a darkroom, and vaults where its records and films were stored. The 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special) at Sandia was commanded by Colonel Gilbert M. Dorland, and consisted of a headquarters company, a security company (Company A), a bomb assembly company (Company B) and a radiological monitoring company (Company C), although Company C was never fully formed. For training purposes, Company B
4726-459: A specific parliamentary decision. Every conscript who has served at least a day in the Bundeswehr is a reservist, unless he is declared ineligible for military service or has made a claim of conscientious objection . Soldiers of enlisted ranks with a limited contract (either 4, 8 or 12 years) or professional soldiers, who have filled their tour of duty, are likewise part of the reserve. This
4865-404: A status equal to that of a deputy to the Chief of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations, but the most Eisenhower and Nimitz would allow was a status equal to that of the heads of a technical service, although Groves still reported directly to them. They also characterized his role as a staff post rather than a command, although Groves was already exercising the functions of a commander at Sandia. After
5004-473: A strong male bonding experience in Israeli society. Although still available for call-up in times of crisis, most Israeli men, and virtually all women, do not actually perform reserve service in any given year. Units do not always call up all of their reservists every year, and a variety of exemptions are available if called for regular reserve service. Virtually no exemptions exist for reservists called up in
5143-550: A substantial investment" in the past to develop pure fusion weapons, but that, "The U.S. does not have and is not developing a pure fusion weapon", and that, "No credible design for a pure fusion weapon resulted from the DOE investment". Nuclear isomers provide a possible pathway to fissionless fusion bombs. These are naturally occurring isotopes ( Hf being a prominent example) which exist in an elevated energy state. Mechanisms to release this energy as bursts of gamma radiation (as in
5282-399: A time of crisis, but experience has shown that in such cases (most recently, the 2006 Lebanon War) exemptions are rarely requested or exercised; units generally achieve recruitment rates above those considered fully manned. All male able-bodied Singapore citizens and second-generation permanent residents upon reaching the age of 18 are obliged by law to serve National Service compulsorily as
5421-459: A total of 40, 75 or 100 days, depending on their military rank. In addition, all reservists are liable for activation in a situation where the military threat against Finland has seriously increased, in full or partial mobilization or in a large-scale disaster or a virulent epidemic. The males who do not belong to the reserve may only be activated in case of full mobilization, and those rank-and-file personnel who have fulfilled 50 years of age only with
5560-684: A tri-service organization answerable to the three service chiefs. Groves and the wartime director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, Robert Oppenheimer , had begun the move of ordnance functions to Sandia in late 1945. The laboratory's ordnance-engineering division, known as Z Division, after its first director, Jerrold R. Zacharias , was split between Los Alamos and Sandia. Between March and July 1946, Z Division relocated to Sandia, except for its mechanical engineering (Z-4) section, which followed in February 1947. Z Division worked on improving
5699-420: Is a thermonuclear weapon that yields a relatively small explosion but a relatively large amount of neutron radiation . Such a weapon could, according to tacticians, be used to cause massive biological casualties while leaving inanimate infrastructure mostly intact and creating minimal fallout. Because high energy neutrons are capable of penetrating dense matter, such as tank armor, neutron warheads were procured in
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project - Misplaced Pages Continue
5838-553: Is also the case for women, but on the basis of the Soldatengesetz (Eng: Soldier Bill ), not the Wehrpflichtgesetz ( Conscription Bill ). Every soldier follows his rank with the initials "d.R." ("der Reserve"—"in the reserve"). So it does not affect whether the soldier is called up, placed in an inactive formation, or not. Only professional soldiers use the appellation "a.D." ("außer Dienst"—"out of service") after
5977-456: Is analogous to identifying a criminal by fingerprints. "The goal would be twofold: first, to deter leaders of nuclear states from selling weapons to terrorists by holding them accountable for any use of their weapons; second, to give leaders every incentive to tightly secure their nuclear weapons and materials." According to the Pentagon's June 2019 " Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations " of
6116-403: Is coming up with ways of tracing nuclear material to the country that forged the fissile material. "After a nuclear bomb detonates, nuclear forensics cops would collect debris samples and send them to a laboratory for radiological analysis. By identifying unique attributes of the fissile material, including its impurities and contaminants, one could trace the path back to its origin." The process
6255-481: Is for the purpose of achieving different yields for different situations , and in manipulating design elements to attempt to minimize weapon size, radiation hardness or requirements for special materials, especially fissile fuel or tritium. Some nuclear weapons are designed for special purposes; most of these are for non-strategic (decisively war-winning) purposes and are referred to as tactical nuclear weapons . The neutron bomb purportedly conceived by Sam Cohen
6394-503: Is no evidence that it is feasible beyond the military domain. However, the U.S. Air Force funded studies of the physics of antimatter in the Cold War , and began considering its possible use in weapons, not just as a trigger, but as the explosive itself. A fourth generation nuclear weapon design is related to, and relies upon, the same principle as antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion . Most variation in nuclear weapon design
6533-409: Is not a fusion bomb. In the boosted bomb, the neutrons produced by the fusion reactions serve primarily to increase the efficiency of the fission bomb. There are two types of boosted fission bomb: internally boosted, in which a deuterium-tritium mixture is injected into the bomb core, and externally boosted, in which concentric shells of lithium-deuteride and depleted uranium are layered on the outside of
6672-490: Is not clear that this has ever been implemented, and their plausible use in nuclear weapons is a matter of dispute. The other basic type of nuclear weapon produces a large proportion of its energy in nuclear fusion reactions. Such fusion weapons are generally referred to as thermonuclear weapons or more colloquially as hydrogen bombs (abbreviated as H-bombs ), as they rely on fusion reactions between isotopes of hydrogen ( deuterium and tritium ). All such weapons derive
6811-613: Is the Specific Training, in this phase the applicant for Reservist develop the specific tasks in his military unit. When the Applicant approve the two stages acquires the Reservist title and the rank of Soldier, Sergeant or Second Lieutenant (Alférez). The time of the Reservist commitment is three years, with extensions until 58 years of age for Officers and NCO and 55 years old for ordinary soldiers. All three branches of
6950-454: Is the primary means of nuclear weapons delivery; the majority of U.S. nuclear warheads, for example, are free-fall gravity bombs, namely the B61 , which is being improved upon to this day. Preferable from a strategic point of view is a nuclear weapon mounted on a missile , which can use a ballistic trajectory to deliver the warhead over the horizon. Although even short-range missiles allow for
7089-577: Is thereafter known as an Operationally-Ready National Serviceman (NSman). NSmen are the equivalent of other militaries' reservists . The slight difference in nomenclature is as to these NSmen will form the main fighting personnel of the Singapore Armed Forces upon wartime or any national exigencies. In practice, Operationally-Ready NSmen of all the tri-service (SAF, SPF and SCDF) are all routinely called up annually for reservist duty until they complete their reservist cycle obligations or upon
SECTION 50
#17327811287057228-574: The British Armed Forces have volunteer reserves. Reservists hold civilian jobs and train on a stipulated number of weekends monthly. They are generally assigned to an administrative corps or specialist trade according to their occupations and location in the country. Five of the six branches of the United States Armed Forces have their own Reserve Forces, whose reservists can be called upon to serve: As of 2021,
7367-538: The Ersatzreserve (replacement reserve). After personnel complete their regular service, the IDF may call up men for: In most cases, the reserve duty is carried out in the same unit for years, in many cases the same unit as the active service and by the same people. Many soldiers who have served together in active service continue to meet in reserve duty for years after their discharge, causing reserve duty to become
7506-674: The Global War on Terrorism , and in 2005 National Guard personnel made up 41 percent of all troops deployed to Iraq. The National Guard is divided into the following: During peacetime, Reservists and National Guardsmen spend a minimum of one weekend a month, two weeks a year annually in training. Reservists and National Guardsmen in front tier combat organizations, such as aviation units flying combat aircraft and combat support aircraft, will be funded for additional military drill duty or active duty for training in order to maintain skill levels. They may also perform additional duty in support of
7645-600: The National Security Act of 1947 created an independent Air Force, Groves reported to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force as well, and was given a second deputy chief from the Air Force, Major General Roscoe C. Wilson , who had worked on the Silverplate project during the war. Groves initially established the headquarters of the AFSWP in the old offices of the Manhattan Project on the fifth floor of
7784-554: The New War Department Building in Washington, DC, but on 15 April 1947 it moved to the Pentagon . As AFSWP headquarters expanded, it filled up its original accommodation, and began using office space in other parts of the building, which was not satisfactory from a security point of view. In August 1949, it moved to 18,000 square feet (1,700 m) of new offices inside the Pentagon. This included space for
7923-484: The Soviet Union might launch a sneak attack on Enewetak to wipe out the nation's ability to assemble nuclear weapons. The successful testing in Operation Sandstone was a major leap forward. The new Mark 4 nuclear bomb the AEC began delivering in 1949 was a production design that was much easier to assemble and maintain, and enabled a bomb-assembly team to be reduced to just 46 men. Kenneth D. Nichols ,
8062-695: The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test in 1962, an unexpected effect was produced which is called a nuclear electromagnetic pulse . This is an intense flash of electromagnetic energy produced by a rain of high-energy electrons which in turn are produced by a nuclear bomb's gamma rays. This flash of energy can permanently destroy or disrupt electronic equipment if insufficiently shielded. It has been proposed to use this effect to disable an enemy's military and civilian infrastructure as an adjunct to other nuclear or conventional military operations. By itself it could as well be useful to terrorists for crippling
8201-501: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968) attempted to place restrictions on the types of activities signatories could participate in, with the goal of allowing the transference of non-military nuclear technology to member countries without fear of proliferation. Reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force . They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside
8340-554: The Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent ). A thermonuclear weapon weighing as little as 600 pounds (270 kg) can release energy equal to more than 1.2 megatonnes of TNT (5.0 PJ). A nuclear device no larger than a conventional bomb can devastate an entire city by blast, fire, and radiation . Since they are weapons of mass destruction , the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a focus of international relations policy. Nuclear weapons have been deployed twice in war , both by
8479-676: The Tsar Bomba of the USSR, which released an energy equivalent of over 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), was a three-stage weapon. Most thermonuclear weapons are considerably smaller than this, due to practical constraints from missile warhead space and weight requirements. In the early 1950s the Livermore Laboratory in the United States had plans for the testing of two massive bombs, Gnomon and Sundial , 1 gigaton of TNT and 10 gigatons of TNT respectively. Fusion reactions do not create fission products, and thus contribute far less to
SECTION 60
#17327811287058618-626: The United States Space Force has neither a reserve component nor a National Guard component, and part-time space personnel are contained in the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. The United States National Guard , which is under dual federal and state control, is traditionally intended for homeland defense and domestic disaster relief. However, large numbers were deployed into combat during
8757-529: The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. After the war ended, the Manhattan Project supported the nuclear weapons testing at Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads in 1946. One of Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal 's aides, Lewis Strauss , proposed this series of tests to refute "loose talk to the effect that the fleet is obsolete in the face of this new weapon". The nuclear weapons were handmade devices, and
8896-424: The hafnium controversy ) have been proposed as possible triggers for conventional thermonuclear reactions. Antimatter , which consists of particles resembling ordinary matter particles in most of their properties but having opposite electric charge , has been considered as a trigger mechanism for nuclear weapons. A major obstacle is the difficulty of producing antimatter in large enough quantities, and there
9035-614: The head of government or head of state . Despite controls and regulations governing nuclear weapons, there is an inherent danger of "accidents, mistakes, false alarms, blackmail, theft, and sabotage". In the late 1940s, lack of mutual trust prevented the United States and the Soviet Union from making progress on arms control agreements. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on July 9, 1955, by Bertrand Russell in
9174-436: The tropopause into the stratosphere , where the calm non-turbulent winds permit the debris to travel great distances from the burst, eventually settling and unpredictably contaminating areas far removed from the target of the explosion. There are other types of nuclear weapons as well. For example, a boosted fission weapon is a fission bomb that increases its explosive yield through a small number of fusion reactions, but it
9313-537: The "implosion" method, is more sophisticated and more efficient (smaller, less massive, and requiring less of the expensive fissile fuel) than the former. A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons (500 kilotons ) of TNT (4.2 to 2.1 × 10 GJ). All fission reactions generate fission products ,
9452-533: The 1980s (though not deployed in Europe) for use as tactical payloads for US Army artillery shells (200 mm W79 and 155 mm W82 ) and short range missile forces. Soviet authorities announced similar intentions for neutron warhead deployment in Europe; indeed, they claimed to have originally invented the neutron bomb, but their deployment on USSR tactical nuclear forces is unverifiable. A type of nuclear explosive most suitable for use by ground special forces
9591-517: The 471st Special Weapons Unit flew to Norfolk, Virginia , and practiced bomb assembly on board the Midway -class aircraft carriers. In addition to assembly of weapons, the AFSWP supported nuclear weapons testing. For Operation Sandstone in 1948, Groves ordered Dorland to fill every possible job with his men. He did this so well that Strauss, now an AEC commissioner, became disturbed at the number of AFSWP personnel who were participating, and feared that
9730-492: The 60th year of age. Until the 32nd year of age every conscript is subject to military inspection. Recognised conscientious objectors, who have completed their civil service, are nonetheless part of the reserve and in the event of war will be given a suitable non-combatant role outside the Bundeswehr, such as emergency medical services, clearing debris or minesweeping. All conscripts who have not done their service belong to
9869-400: The AEC was formed in 1947 it acquired custody of nuclear components from the Manhattan Project on the understanding that the matter would be reviewed. In November 1947, the Military Liaison Committee requested that custody of the nuclear stockpile be transferred to the military, but Lilienthal believed AEC custody of the stockpile was an important aspect of civilian control of nuclear weapons. He
10008-582: The Armed Forces became more heavily involved with aspects of nuclear weapons than ever, the role of the AFSWP diminished. It began moving away from training assembly teams, which were increasingly not required, as its primary mission, and became more involved in the management of the rapidly growing nuclear stockpile, and providing technical advice and logistical support. In 1953, the AFSWP Field Command had 10,250 personnel. On 16 October 1953,
10147-463: The Bundeswehr organises reservist unions as particularly representative supporting organisations of "voluntarily reservist work". Eligibility for compulsory military service for soldiers and other servicemen of low rank ends at the end of the 45th year of age. Thereafter the conscript is no longer part of the reserve. Despite that the appellations "a.D." or "d.R." may still be used. Conscription for non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and officers lasts until
10286-425: The Cold War, policy and military theorists considered the sorts of policies that might prevent a nuclear attack, and they developed game theory models that could lead to stable deterrence conditions. Different forms of nuclear weapons delivery (see above) allow for different types of nuclear strategies. The goals of any strategy are generally to make it difficult for an enemy to launch a pre-emptive strike against
10425-494: The Joint Chiefs of Staffs website Publication, "Integration of nuclear weapons employment with conventional and special operations forces is essential to the success of any mission or operation." Because they are weapons of mass destruction, the proliferation and possible use of nuclear weapons are important issues in international relations and diplomacy. In most countries, the use of nuclear force can only be authorized by
10564-465: The Military Liaison Committee, although the newly appointed AEC chairman, David E. Lilienthal , told Patterson he did not think it was a good idea, because Groves had run the Manhattan Project by himself for four years, and was not used to having to compromise. Groves and Parsons drafted a proposed organization and charter for the AFSWP, which they sent to Eisenhower and Nimitz for approval in July 1947. Groves did not get everything he asked for; he wanted
10703-570: The Navy three, one for each of the Midway -class aircraft carriers . In March 1948, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Carl Spaatz , proposed that the Air Force take over the AFSWP, on the grounds that the Key West Agreement had given it responsibility for strategic bombing. This would have simplified command of the AFSWP, as it would have been answerable to only one service chief instead of three. The Army cautiously supported
10842-473: The Newport Agreement, under which the Navy agreed to drop its opposition to the AFSWP being placed under the Air Force temporarily, in return for the Air Force recognizing the Navy's requirement for nuclear weapons. When the Air Force moved to make the temporary arrangement permanent in September 1948, the Army and Navy objected, and the Military Liaison Committee directed that the AFSWP should remain
10981-503: The Nuclear Age (1961) that mere possession of a nuclear arsenal was enough to ensure deterrence, and thus concluded that the spread of nuclear weapons could increase international stability . Some prominent neo-realist scholars, such as Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer , have argued, along the lines of Gallois, that some forms of nuclear proliferation would decrease the likelihood of total war , especially in troubled regions of
11120-522: The Secretary of Defense charged the AFSWP with responsibility for "a centralized system of reporting and accounting to ensure that the current status and location" of all nuclear weapons "will be known at all times". The Atomic Warfare Status Center was created within the AFSWP to handle this mission. In April 1958, Eisenhower asked Congress for legislation to overhaul the Department of Defense. Over
11259-544: The Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon forced Prussia to drastically reduce its military strength, in addition to ceding large amounts of territory. The Prussian army could no longer be stronger than 42,000 men. The Krümpersystem , introduced to the Prussian army by the military reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst , arranged for giving recruits a short period of training, which in the event of war could be considerably expanded. With this
11398-664: The USAAF detonated a plutonium implosion-type fission bomb nicknamed " Fat Man " over the Japanese city of Nagasaki . These bombings caused injuries that resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 civilians and military personnel . The ethics of these bombings and their role in Japan's surrender are to this day, still subjects of debate . Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , nuclear weapons have been detonated over 2,000 times for testing and demonstration. Only
11537-777: The USAF AIR-2 Genie , the AIM-26 Falcon and US Army Nike Hercules . Missile interceptors such as the Sprint and the Spartan also used small nuclear warheads (optimized to produce neutron or X-ray flux) but were for use against enemy strategic warheads. Other small, or tactical, nuclear weapons were deployed by naval forces for use primarily as antisubmarine weapons. These included nuclear depth bombs or nuclear armed torpedoes. Nuclear mines for use on land or at sea are also possibilities. The system used to deliver
11676-527: The United States against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 during World War II . Nuclear weapons have only twice been used in warfare, both times by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II . On August 6, 1945, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) detonated a uranium gun-type fission bomb nicknamed " Little Boy " over the Japanese city of Hiroshima ; three days later, on August 9,
11815-526: The United States. Small, two-man portable tactical weapons (somewhat misleadingly referred to as suitcase bombs ), such as the Special Atomic Demolition Munition , have been developed, although the difficulty of combining sufficient yield with portability limits their military utility. Nuclear warfare strategy is a set of policies that deal with preventing or fighting a nuclear war. The policy of trying to prevent an attack by
11954-483: The act was the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA). The new agency reported to the Secretary of Defense through the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was given responsibility for the supervision of all Department of Defense nuclear sites. Otherwise, Top Secret military expeditionary installations such as Sandia Base, Manzano Base, Bossier Base Clarksville Base, Killeen Base and Lake Mead Base to name
12093-462: The additional cost to the taxpayers of developing two systems instead of one was estimated at $ 500 million. The Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 was signed by Eisenhower in August 1958. It increased the authority of the Secretary of Defense, who was authorized to establish such defense agencies as he thought necessary "to provide for more effective, efficient and economical administration and operation". The first field agency established under
12232-472: The bomb-assembly function was usually undertaken by scientists. During Operation Buster-Jangle , AFSWP personnel showed films and gave lectures to 2,800 military personnel who had been selected to witness the test, explaining what would occur and the procedures to be followed. This was expanded to cater for the more than 7,000 personnel who were involved in Operation Upshot–Knothole in 1953. When
12371-422: The bombs were "still largely the haywire contraptions that were slapped together in 1945". With a half-life of only 140 days, the polonium-beryllium modulated neutron initiators had to be periodically removed from the plutonium pits, tested, and, if necessary, replaced. The cores had to be stored separately from the high-explosive blocks that would surround them in the bomb because they generated enough heat to melt
12510-485: The chance of a successful missile defense . Today, missiles are most common among systems designed for delivery of nuclear weapons. Making a warhead small enough to fit onto a missile, though, can be difficult. Tactical weapons have involved the most variety of delivery types, including not only gravity bombs and missiles but also artillery shells, land mines , and nuclear depth charges and torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare . An atomic mortar has been tested by
12649-463: The completion of the service, the conscripts receive a reserve military rank of private , lance corporal , corporal , sergeant or second lieutenant , depending on their training and accomplishments. After their military service, the conscripts are placed in reserve until the end of their 50th or 60th living year, depending on their military rank. During their time in reserve, the reservists are liable to participate in military refresher exercises for
12788-452: The cores and initiators. As part of their training, they attended lectures by Edward Teller , Hans Bethe , Lise Meitner and Enrico Fermi . The electrical and mechanical groups at Sandia, although not the nuclear group, completed their training around the end of October 1946 and spent the next month devising the best methods of assembling a Fat Man, drawing up detailed checklists so later bomb assembly teams could be trained. They also drew up
12927-435: The creation of nuclear fallout than fission reactions, but because all thermonuclear weapons contain at least one fission stage, and many high-yield thermonuclear devices have a final fission stage, thermonuclear weapons can generate at least as much nuclear fallout as fission-only weapons. Furthermore, high yield thermonuclear explosions (most dangerously ground bursts) have the force to lift radioactive debris upwards past
13066-536: The custody of atomic weapons as the proper functions of the civil authorities." With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, air transport resources were put under great strain, and it was decided to reduce the requirement for it by pre-positioning non-nuclear components at locations in Europe and the Pacific. That way, in an emergency, only the nuclear components would have to be flown out. In June, Truman ordered
13205-455: The decision process. The prospect of mutually assured destruction might not deter an enemy who expects to die in the confrontation. Further, if the initial act is from a stateless terrorist instead of a sovereign nation, there might not be a nation or specific target to retaliate against. It has been argued, especially after the September 11, 2001, attacks , that this complication calls for
13344-668: The deployment of nuclear components in equal numbers to non-nuclear components, and the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 amended the sections of the old act that gave exclusive custody to the AEC. By 1959, the nuclear stockpile had grown to 12,305 weapons of which 3,968 were in AEC custody and the remaining 8,337 were held by the Department of Defense. The total yield of the stockpile was now in excess of 19,000 megatons of TNT (79,000 PJ). As Bradbury had promised, with research and development, nuclear weapons became smaller, simpler and lighter. They also became easier to store, assemble, test and maintain. Thus, while under Eisenhower's New Look policy
13483-448: The director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in December 1945, argued that rapid transfer could be accomplished by improved procedures and that the other difficulties could best be resolved by further development, mostly from the scientists. Forrestal and Carpenter took the matter up with Truman, who issued his decision on 21 July 1948: "I regard the continued control of all aspects of the atomic energy program, including research, development and
13622-542: The end of 1951, there were 429 weapons in AEC custody and nine held by the Department of Defense. In the light of this, a new AEC-AFSWP agreement on "Responsibilities of Stockpile Operations" was drawn up in August 1951, but in December, the Joint Chiefs of Staff began a new push for weapons to be permanently assigned to the armed forces, so as to ensure a greater degree of flexibility and a higher state of readiness. On 20 June 1953, Eisenhower, now as president, approved
13761-438: The end of their service. All others (part-time soldiers and conscripts) strictly use "d.R." until the end of their lives. Reservists are an integral part of the Bundeswehr. They are essential for the capability of the armed forces in time of war. Reservists can be active in the Bundeswehr in addition to their mandatory service. This mostly happens through (mostly voluntarily) military exercises or official events. Apart from that
13900-469: The energy of a fission bomb to compress and heat fusion fuel. In the Teller-Ulam design , which accounts for all multi-megaton yield hydrogen bombs, this is accomplished by placing a fission bomb and fusion fuel ( tritium , deuterium , or lithium deuteride ) in proximity within a special, radiation-reflecting container. When the fission bomb is detonated, gamma rays and X-rays emitted first compress
14039-455: The fission bomb core. The external method of boosting enabled the USSR to field the first partially thermonuclear weapons, but it is now obsolete because it demands a spherical bomb geometry, which was adequate during the 1950s arms race when bomber aircraft were the only available delivery vehicles. The detonation of any nuclear weapon is accompanied by a blast of neutron radiation . Surrounding
14178-420: The fusion fuel, then heat it to thermonuclear temperatures. The ensuing fusion reaction creates enormous numbers of high-speed neutrons , which can then induce fission in materials not normally prone to it, such as depleted uranium . Each of these components is known as a "stage", with the fission bomb as the "primary" and the fusion capsule as the "secondary". In large, megaton-range hydrogen bombs, about half of
14317-535: The globe, would make all life on the planet extinct. In connection with the Strategic Defense Initiative , research into the nuclear pumped laser was conducted under the DOD program Project Excalibur but this did not result in a working weapon. The concept involves the tapping of the energy of an exploding nuclear bomb to power a single-shot laser that is directed at a distant target. During
14456-449: The heat generated by the fissile cores , precluded storing them assembled. The large quantity of conventional explosive in each weapon demanded special care be taken in handling. Groves hand-picked a team of regular Army officers, who were trained in the assembly and handling of the weapons. They in turn trained the enlisted soldiers, and the Army teams then trained teams from the Navy and Air Force. As nuclear weapons development proceeded,
14595-655: The legally statutory discharge age of 40 for Warrant Officers, Specialists and Enlistees ( WOSEs) and 50 for Officers. Reservistas Voluntarios (Volunteer Reservists) provide the Spanish Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) branches of qualified civilian professionals essentially required for each army. The training is divided in two phases. The first stage it is the Basic Training in military knowledge. The time for this phase are normally two weeks. The second stage, which typical time are one week, it
14734-496: The majority of their energy from nuclear fission reactions alone, and those that use fission reactions to begin nuclear fusion reactions that produce a large amount of the total energy output. All existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly referred to as atomic bombs or atom bombs (abbreviated as A-bombs ). This has long been noted as something of
14873-406: The males complete the service. The conscripts first receive basic training, after which they are assigned to various units for special training. Privates who are trained for tasks not requiring special skills serve for 6 months. In technically demanding tasks, the time of service is 9, or in some cases, 12 months. Those selected for NCO (non-commissioned officer) or officer training serve 12 months. At
15012-626: The matter with the Chief of Staff of the Army , General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower , who similarly did not approve it. Groves then went over his head too, and took the issue to the Secretary of War , Robert P. Patterson , who agreed with Groves. The personnel manned the 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special), which became a field unit under the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP). Groves hoped
15151-791: The mechanical and electrical reliability of the Mark 3 Fat Man bomb, but this work was disrupted by the Crossroads tests. The 1947 nuclear stockpile consisted of nuclear weapons components, not weapons. Meeting with Truman in April 1947, Lilienthal informed him that not only were there no assembled weapons, there were only a few sets of components and no fully trained bomb-assembly teams. By August 1946, Sandia Base held electrical and mechanical assemblies for about 50 Fat Man bombs, but there were only nine fissile cores in storage. The stockpile of cores grew to 13 in 1947, and 53 in 1948. Oppenheimer noted that
15290-407: The midst of the Cold War. It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict. The signatories included eleven pre-eminent intellectuals and scientists, including Albert Einstein , who signed it just days before his death on April 18, 1955. A few days after the release, philanthropist Cyrus S. Eaton offered to sponsor
15429-545: The military establishment have questioned the usefulness of such weapons in the current military climate. According to an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 1996, the use of (or threat of use of) such weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, but the court did not reach an opinion as to whether or not the threat or use would be lawful in specific extreme circumstances such as if
15568-434: The military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is usually a former active-duty member of the armed forces , and they remain a reservist either voluntarily, or by obligation. In some countries such as Israel , Norway , Finland , Singapore , and Switzerland , reservists are conscripted soldiers who are called up for training and service when necessary. The notion of
15707-408: The missiles before they land or implementing civil defense measures using early-warning systems to evacuate citizens to safe areas before an attack. Weapons designed to threaten large populations or to deter attacks are known as strategic weapons . Nuclear weapons for use on a battlefield in military situations are called tactical weapons . Critics of nuclear war strategy often suggest that
15846-474: The opposite service. Both would be members of the Military Liaison Committee, because the Atomic Energy Act stipulated that the Military Liaison Committee was the sole military body that dealt with the AEC. In February 1947, Eisenhower and Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz appointed Groves as head of the AFSWP, with Parsons as his deputy. Accordingly, Groves was appointed to
15985-425: The plastic explosive over time. The heat could also affect the cores themselves, provoking a phase transition to a different allotrope of plutonium . They had to be periodically inspected by technicians wearing gloves and respirators. The bomb's electrical power for its radar fuzes and detonators came from a pair of lead-acid batteries similar to those used in cars. These had to be charged 24 hours before use. After
16124-530: The proposal, but the Navy was strongly opposed, fearing that the Air Force's confusion of atomic bombing and strategic bombing would impede or even prevent the Navy from having access to nuclear weapons, which it felt was necessary to accomplish its primary maritime mission. Another series of talks was held at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island , from 20 to 22 August 1948, which resulted in
16263-668: The reduction of the army's strength did not have the desired effect, and in the following wars Prussia was able to draw up a large number of trained soldiers. By the time of the German Empire , reservists were already being given so-called "war arrangements" following the completion of their military service, which contained exact instructions relating to the conduct of reservists in time of war. The Finnish Defence Forces are based on universal male conscription . All men above 18 years of age are required to serve either 6, 9, or 12 months. Yearly about 27,000 conscripts are trained. 80% of
16402-428: The remains of the split atomic nuclei. Many fission products are either highly radioactive (but short-lived) or moderately radioactive (but long-lived), and as such, they are a serious form of radioactive contamination . Fission products are the principal radioactive component of nuclear fallout . Another source of radioactivity is the burst of free neutrons produced by the weapon. When they collide with other nuclei in
16541-402: The surrounding material, the neutrons transmute those nuclei into other isotopes, altering their stability and making them radioactive. The most commonly used fissile materials for nuclear weapons applications have been uranium-235 and plutonium-239 . Less commonly used has been uranium-233 . Neptunium-237 and some isotopes of americium may be usable for nuclear explosives as well, but it
16680-498: The survival of the state were at stake. Another deterrence position is that nuclear proliferation can be desirable. In this case, it is argued that, unlike conventional weapons, nuclear weapons deter all-out war between states, and they succeeded in doing this during the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union . In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gen. Pierre Marie Gallois of France, an adviser to Charles de Gaulle , argued in books like The Balance of Terror: Strategy for
16819-542: The three services. On 11 March, Truman summoned Lilienthal, Nichols and Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall to his office, and told them he expected the AFSWP and the AEC to cooperate. Nichols's position was the same as Groves's and Montague's: that nuclear weapons needed to be available in an emergency, and the men who had to use them in battle needed to have experience with their maintenance, storage and handling. Norris Bradbury , who had replaced Oppenheimer as
16958-472: The top ten percent of their classes to man bomb-assembly teams at Sandia Base , where the assembly staff and facilities had been moved from Los Alamos and Wendover Field in September and October 1945. He felt that only such high-quality personnel would be able to work with the scientists who were currently doing the job. They were also urgently required for many other jobs in the postwar Army. When General Thomas T. Handy turned down his request, Groves raised
17097-485: The training of thousands of radar technicians at the Southern Signal Corps School during the war. The battalion was redesignated the 38th Engineer Battalion (Special) in April 1947, and in July it became part of the newly created AFSWP Field Command, under the command of Brigadier General Robert M. Montague . The TTG was soon reporting directly to Montague as well. The first bomb assembly team
17236-495: The transfer of 90 sets of non-nuclear Mark 4 components to the AFSWP for training purposes. In December, he authorized the carriage of non-nuclear components on board the Midway -class carriers. In April 1951, the AEC released nine Mark 4 weapons to the Air Force in case the Soviet Union intervened in the war in Korea. These were flown to Guam, where they were maintained by the Air Force special weapons unit there. Thus, at
17375-480: The wartime commander of the Manhattan District, now "recommended that we should be thinking in terms of thousands of weapons rather than hundreds". After Operation Sandstone, only relatively small numbers of AFSWP personnel were involved in nuclear testing. The AFSWP was heavily involved in the planning, preparation and coordination of tests, but it had limited participation in the tests themselves, where
17514-446: The weapon system and difficult to defend against the delivery of the weapon during a potential conflict. This can mean keeping weapon locations hidden, such as deploying them on submarines or land mobile transporter erector launchers whose locations are difficult to track, or it can mean protecting weapons by burying them in hardened missile silo bunkers. Other components of nuclear strategies included using missile defenses to destroy
17653-417: The weapons became mass-produced, smaller, lighter, and easier to store, handle, and maintain. They also required less effort to assemble. The AFSWP gradually shifted its emphasis away from training assembly teams, and became more involved in stockpile management and providing administrative, technical, and logistical support. It supported nuclear weapons testing, although after Operation Sandstone in 1948, this
17792-631: The world where there exists a single nuclear-weapon state. Aside from the public opinion that opposes proliferation in any form, there are two schools of thought on the matter: those, like Mearsheimer, who favored selective proliferation, and Waltz, who was somewhat more non- interventionist . Interest in proliferation and the stability-instability paradox that it generates continues to this day, with ongoing debate about indigenous Japanese and South Korean nuclear deterrent against North Korea . The threat of potentially suicidal terrorists possessing nuclear weapons (a form of nuclear terrorism ) complicates
17931-624: The yield comes from the final fissioning of depleted uranium. Virtually all thermonuclear weapons deployed today use the "two-stage" design described to the right, but it is possible to add additional fusion stages—each stage igniting a larger amount of fusion fuel in the next stage. This technique can be used to construct thermonuclear weapons of arbitrarily large yield. This is in contrast to fission bombs, which are limited in their explosive power due to criticality danger (premature nuclear chain reaction caused by too-large amounts of pre-assembled fissile fuel). The largest nuclear weapon ever detonated,
18070-508: Was a danger that wartime knowledge would be lost, leaving no one who knew how to handle and maintain nuclear weapons, much less how to improve the weapons and processes. The military side of the Manhattan Project had relied heavily on reservists , as the policy of the Corps of Engineers was to assign regular officers to field commands. The reservists were now eligible for separation. To replace them, Groves asked for fifty West Point graduates from
18209-600: Was a joint organization, staffed by the United States Army , United States Navy and United States Air Force ; its chief was supported by deputies from the other two services. Major General Leslie R. Groves , the former head of the Manhattan Project, was its first chief. The early nuclear weapons were large, complex, and cumbersome. They were stored as components rather than complete devices and required expert knowledge to assemble. The short life of their lead-acid batteries and modulated neutron initiators , and
18348-516: Was created in May 1948, and in December, the 38th Engineer Battalion (Special) became the 8460th Special Weapons Group, with all seven special weapons units under its command. The four Army units were then renamed the 111th, 122d, 133d and 144th Special Weapons Units. During the late 1940s the Air Force gradually became the major user of nuclear weapons, and by the end of 1949 it had twelve assembly units and another three in training. The Army had only four and
18487-418: Was disturbed that the AFSWP had not informed the AEC in advance of Operation Ajax. For his part, Groves suspected the AEC was not keeping bomb components in the condition in which the military wanted to receive them, and Operation Ajax only confirmed his suspicions. Reviewing the exercise, Montague reported that "under the existing law, with the AEC charged with procurement and custody of all atomic weapons, there
18626-475: Was formed in August 1947, followed by a second in December and a third in March 1948. Experience with assembling the bombs convincingly demonstrated the requirement, in Sandia if not in Washington, for a much larger unit. Groves reluctantly approved a 109-man special weapons unit, and Montague converted the three lettered companies of the 38th Engineer Battalion into special weapons units. In 1948, they began training
18765-545: Was increasingly in a planning and training capacity rather than a field role. In 1959, the AFSWP became the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), a field agency of the Department of Defense . Nuclear weapons were developed during World War II by the Manhattan Project , a major research and development effort led by the United States, with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, it
18904-422: Was initially divided into command, electrical, mechanical and nuclear groups, but the intention was to create three integrated 36-man bomb assembly teams. To free the bomb assembly teams from having to train newcomers, a Technical Training Group (TTG) was created under Lieutenant Colonel John A. Ord, a Signal Corps officer with a Doctor of Science degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology who had directed
19043-511: Was no adequate logistic support for the weapon." He recommended a larger role for the military, a recommendation with which Groves concurred, but was powerless to implement. Groves retired at the end of February 1948, and Nichols was designated as his successor with the rank of major general. At the same time, Forrestal, now the Secretary of Defense , reorganized the Military Liaison Committee. A civilian, Donald F. Carpenter , replaced Brereton as chairman, and there were now two members from each of
19182-744: Was the Special Atomic Demolition Munition , or SADM, sometimes popularly known as a suitcase nuke . This is a nuclear bomb that is man-portable, or at least truck-portable, and though of a relatively small yield (one or two kilotons) is sufficient to destroy important tactical targets such as bridges, dams, tunnels, important military or commercial installations, etc. either behind enemy lines or pre-emptively on friendly territory soon to be overtaken by invading enemy forces. These weapons require plutonium fuel and are particularly "dirty". They also demand especially stringent security precautions in their storage and deployment. Small "tactical" nuclear weapons were deployed for use as antiaircraft weapons. Examples include
19321-601: Was under the direction of Major General Leslie R. Groves Jr. , of the US Army Corps of Engineers . It created a network of production facilities, most notably for uranium enrichment at Oak Ridge, Tennessee , plutonium production at Hanford, Washington , and weapons research and design at the Los Alamos Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico . The nuclear weapons that were developed were used in
#704295