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Project E
Project E was a joint project between the United States and the United Kingdom during the Cold War to provide nuclear weapons to the Royal Air Force (RAF) until sufficient British nuclear weapons became available. It was subsequently expanded to provide similar arrangements for the British Army of the Rhine. A maritime version of Project E known as Project N provided nuclear depth bombs used by the RAF Coastal Command. The British nuclear weapons project, High Explosive Research, successfully tested a nuclear weapon in Operation Hurricane in October 1952, but production was slow and Britain had only ten atomic bombs on hand in 1955 and fourteen in 1956. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, approached the President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, with a request that the US supply nuclear weapons for the strategic bombers of the V bomber fleet until sufficient British weapons became available. This became known as Project E. Under an agreement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B28 Nuclear Bomb
The B28, originally Mark 28, was a thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear bomb carried by United States, U.S. tactical fighter bombers, attack aircraft and bomber aircraft. From 1962 to 1972 under the NATO nuclear weapons sharing program, American B28s also equipped six Europe-based Canadian Canadair CF-104 Starfighter, CF-104 squadrons known as the RCAF Nuclear Strike Force. It was also supplied for delivery by UK-based Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant, Valiant and English Electric Canberra, Canberra aircraft assigned to NATO under the command of SACEUR. In addition, certain U.S. Navy carrier based attack aircraft such as the A-3 Skywarrior, A3D (later A-3B) Skywarrior, A-4 Skyhawk, A4D (later A-4) Skyhawk, and A-5 Vigilante, A3J (later A-5A) Vigilante were equipped to carry the B28. Production history Initial development of the IN and EX weapons During the design of the Mark 15 nuclear bomb, TX-15 in 1953 it became evident to designers that massive reductions in size and weight of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vickers Valiant
The Vickers Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s was part of the Royal Air Force's " V bomber" strategic deterrent force. It was developed by Vickers-Armstrongs in response to Specification B.35/46 issued by the Air Ministry for a nuclear-armed jet-powered bomber. The Valiant was the first of the V bombers to become operational, and was followed by the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan. The Valiant is the only V bomber to have dropped live nuclear weapons (for test purposes).Blackman and Wright 2015, p. 33. In 1956, Valiants operating from Malta flew conventional bombing missions over Egypt for Operation Musketeer during the Suez Crisis. From 1956 until early 1966 the main Valiant force was used in the nuclear deterrence role in the confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact powers. Other squadrons undertook aerial refuelling, aerial reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare. In 1962, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. Nuclear bombs have had Nuclear weapon yield, yields between 10 tons (the W54) and 50 megatons for the Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent). Yields in the low kilotons can devastate cities. A thermonuclear weapon weighing as little as can release energy equal to more than 1.2 megatons of TNT (5.0 Petajoule, PJ). Apart from the blast, Effects of nuclear explosions, effects of nuclear weapons include Firestorm, firestorms, extreme Thermal radiation, heat and ionizing radiation, radioactive nuclear fallout, an Nuclear electromagnetic pulse, electromagnetic pulse, and a radar blackout. The first nuclear weapons were deve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MGM-52 Lance
The MGM-52 Lance was a mobile field artillery tactical surface-to-surface missile (tactical ballistic missile) system used to provide both W70, nuclear and conventional fire support to the United States Army. The missile's warhead was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was replaced by MGM-140 ATACMS, which was initially intended to likewise have a nuclear capability during the Cold War. Deployment The first Lance missiles were deployed in 1972, replacing (together with the US-Navy's nuclear-tipped RIM-2D and RIM-8E/B/D) the earlier MGR-1 Honest John, Honest John rocket and MGM-29 Sergeant, Sergeant SRBM ballistic missile, greatly reducing the weight and bulk of the system, while improving both accuracy and mobility. A Lance battery (two fire units) consisted of two M113 armored personnel carrier variants, M752 launchers (one missile each) and two M688 auxiliary vehicles (two missiles each), for a total six missiles; the firing rate per unit was approximately ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honest John Missile
The MGR-1 Honest John rocket was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface rocket in the United States arsenal.The first nuclear-authorized ''guided'' missile was the MGM-5 Corporal. Originally designated Artillery Rocket XM31, the first unit was tested on 29 June 1951, with the first production rounds delivered in January 1953. Its designation was changed to M31 in September 1953. The first Army units received their rockets by year's end and Honest John battalions were deployed in Europe in early 1954. Alternatively, the rocket was capable of carrying an ordinary high-explosive warhead weighing . History and development Developed at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, the Honest John was a large but simple fin-stabilized, unguided artillery rocket weighing in its initial M31 nuclear-armed version. Mounted on the back of a truck, the rocket was aimed in much the same way as a cannon and then fired up an elevated ramp, igniting four small spin rockets as it cleared the end of the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MGM-5 Corporal
The MGM-5 Corporal missile was an American short-range, nuclear-armed tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missile. It was the first guided weapon authorized by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead. A guided tactical ballistic missile, the Corporal could deliver either a nuclear fission, high-explosive, fragmentation or chemical warhead up to a range of . It was developed by the United States Army in partnership with Caltech's pioneering Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and initially produced by Douglas Aircraft Company. As development continued production shifted to Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (airframe) and Gilfillan Brothers Inc. (guidance). The Corporal was designed as a tactical nuclear missile for use in the event of Cold War hostilities in Western Europe. The first U.S. Army Corporal battalion was deployed in Europe in 1955. Eight Corporal battalions were deployed in Europe and remained in the field until 1964, when the system was replaced by the solid-fuele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Project Emily
Project Emily was the deployment of American-built Thor intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in the United Kingdom between 1959 and 1963. Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command operated 60 Thor missiles, dispersed to 20 RAF air stations, as part of the British nuclear deterrent. Due to concerns over the buildup of Soviet missiles, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower met Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Bermuda in March 1957 to explore the possibility of short-term deployment of IRBMs in the United Kingdom until the long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) were deployed. The October 1957 Sputnik crisis caused this plan to be expedited. The first Thor missile arrived in the UK on a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II transport aircraft in August 1958, and was delivered to the RAF in September. RAF crews periodically visited the United States for training, culminating in 21 operational training launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. During the Cuban Missile Crisis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile
An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by range is done mostly for convenience. In principle there is little difference between a high-performance IRBM and a low-performance ICBM, because decreasing payload mass can increase the range over the ICBM threshold. The range definition used here is used within the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. History The progenitor for the IRBM was the Aggregate (rocket family)#A4b/A9, A4b rocket, winged for increased range and based on the famous V-2 rocket, V-2, Vergeltung, or "Reprisal", officially called Aggregate series, A4, rocket designed by Wernher von Braun. The V-2 was widely used by Nazi Germany at the end of World War II to bomb English and Belgian cities. The A4b was the prototype for the upper stage of the Aggregate (rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PGM-17 Thor
The PGM-17A Thor was the first operative ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was named after the Thor, Norse god of thunder. It was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with hydrogen bomb, thermonuclear warheads. Thor was in height and in diameter. The first generation of Thor missiles were rushed into service, and design mistakes resulted in a 24% launch failure rate. The competing PGM-19 Jupiter missile saw more use, but both were quickly eclipsed by the Air Force's long range ICBM program, which could be fired from U.S. soil. By 1959, with the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas missile well on its way to operational status, both Thor and Jupiter programs became obsolete as delivery vehicles, yet continued to be built and deployed until 1963 for political reasons and to maintain aerospace industry employment. The missile's lasting legacy continued as the Thor (rocket family), Thor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Germany
Royal Air Force Germany, commonly known as RAF Germany, and abbreviated RAFG, was a command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and part of British Forces Germany (BFG). It consisted of units located in Germany, initially in what was known as West Germany as part of the British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO) following the Second World War, and later as part of the RAF's commitment to the defence of Europe during the Cold War. The commander of RAFG doubled as commander of NATO's Second Allied Tactical Air Force (2ATAF). Its motto was 'Keepers of the Peace'. History RAF Germany was established on , through the renaming of the RAF's Second Tactical Air Force. The command remained based at RAF Rheindahlen with Air Marshal Sir John Edwardes-Jones continuing as its Air Officer Commanding. Flying operations were conducted from six airfields; four of these: Geilenkirchen, Laarbruch, Bruggen, and Wildenrath, were the so-called 'clutch' airfields built earlier in the decade, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TNT Equivalent
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. A ton of TNT equivalent is a unit of energy defined by convention to be (). It is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of trinitrotoluene (TNT). In other words, for each gram of TNT exploded, (or 4184 joules) of energy are released. This convention intends to compare the destructiveness of an event with that of conventional explosive materials, of which TNT is a typical example, although other conventional explosives such as dynamite contain more energy. A related concept is the physical quantity TNT-equivalent mass (or mass of TNT equivalent), expressed in the ordinary units of mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and diff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
