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CHROME DOME
Operation Chrome Dome was a United States Air Force Cold War-era mission from 1961 to 1968 in which B-52 strategic bomber aircraft armed with thermonuclear weapons remained on continuous airborne alert, flying routes that put them in positions to attack targets in the Soviet Union if they were ordered to do so. The exact routes varied by year, but in general there were routes that went to positions over the Canadian arctic, Alaska, Greenland, and the Mediterranean Sea. Many American Air Force bases in the 1960s allocated at least one bomber crew to "Chrome Dome" duty on a regular basis, and many other bases, including foreign bases, were involved in the refueling operations. Over the years the mission involved overflights of American, Canadian, Danish (Greenland), and Spanish territory, among others. The goal of "Chrome Dome" was to keep a number of nuclear-armed aircraft in a position to help guarantee nuclear retaliation against the Soviet Union in the event that the latter wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conventional weapon, Conventional, Chemical weapon, chemical, and Biological agent, biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The Nuclear weapons of the United States, United States, Russia and weapons of mass destruction, Russia, China and weapons of mass destruction, China, France and weapons of mass destruction, France, India and weapons of mass destruction, India, the United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction, United Kingdom, Nuclear weapons and Israel, Israel, and North Korea and weapons of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eielson AFB
Eielson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located approximately southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field and redesignated Eielson Air Force Base on 13 January 1948. It has been a Superfund site since 1989. Eielson AFB was named in honor of polar pilot Carl Ben Eielson. Its host unit is the 354th Fighter Wing (354 FW) assigned to the Eleventh Air Force of the Pacific Air Forces. The 354 FW's primary mission is to support RED FLAG-Alaska, a series of Pacific Air Forces commander–directed field training exercises for U.S. Forces, joint offensive counter-air, interdiction, close-air support, and large force employment training in a simulated combat environment. These exercises are conducted on the Joint Pacific Alaskan Range Complex (JPARC) with air operations flown out of Eielson and its sister installation, Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson (the former Elmendorf A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons delivery, nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16to28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered List of nuclear close calls, the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale Nuclear warfare, nuclear war. In 1961, the US government put PGM-19 Jupiter, Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. It had trained a paramilitary force of Cuban exiles, expatriate Cubans, which the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA led in an attempt to Bay of Pigs Invasion, invade Cuba and overthrow its government. Starting in November of that year, the US government engaged in a violent campaign of terrorism and sabotage in Cuba, referred to as the Cuban P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1968 Thule Air Base B-52 Crash
On 21 January 1968, an aircraft accident, sometimes known as the Thule affair or Thule accident (; ), involving a United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, B-52 bomber occurred near Thule Air Base in the Danish territory of Greenland. The aircraft was carrying four B28 nuclear bomb, B28FI thermonuclear bombs on a Cold War "Operation Chrome Dome, Chrome Dome" alert mission over Baffin Bay when a cabin fire forced the crew to abandon the aircraft before they could carry out an emergency landing at Thule Air Base. Six crew members ejected safely, but one who did not have an ejection seat was killed while trying to bail out. The bomber crashed onto sea ice in North Star Bay, Greenland, causing the conventional explosives aboard to detonate and the nuclear payload to rupture and disperse, resulting in radioactive contamination of the area. The United States and Denmark launched an intensive clean-up and recovery operation, but the Teller–Ulam design#Basic principle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Military Nuclear Incident Terminology
The United States Department of Defense uses a number of terms to define the magnitude and extent of nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents in order to reduce the time taken to report the type of incident, thus streamlining the radio communications in the wake of the event. Origin United States Department of Defense directive 5230.16, ''Nuclear Accident and Incident Public Affairs (PA) Guidance'', Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Manual 3150.03B ''Joint Reporting Structure Event and Incident Reporting'', and the United States Air Force Operation Reporting System, as set out in Air Force Instruction 10-206 detail a number of terms for reporting nuclear incidents internally and externally (including in press releases). They are used by the United States of America, and are neither NATO nor global standards. Terminology Pinnacle ''Pinnacle'' is a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff OPREP-3 (Operational Event/Incident Report) reporting flagword used in the United States Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thule Site J
Thule Site J (J-Site) is a United States Space Force (USSF) radar station in Greenland near Pituffik Space Base for missile warning and United States Space Surveillance Network, spacecraft tracking. The northernmost station of the Solid State Phased Array Radar System, the military installation was built as the 1st site of the RCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System and had 5 of 12 BMEWS radars. The station has the following structures: * "EWR facility": structure with a Solid State Phased Array Radar System (SSPARS) phased array radar * BMEWS radar buildings: 3 of the 4 former AN/FPS-50 buildings, 1 AN/FPS-49A building * Support structures: e.g., buildings with telecommunication equipment at the station's "support site" (cf. "technical site" with radar)—15 major structures were complete in 1961 (i.e., Bldg 98 which was for the original BRCS) History Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, BMEWS General Operational Requirement 156 was issued on 7 November 1957 (BM ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BMEWS
The RCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS, 474L System, Project 474L) was a United States Air Force Cold War early warning radar, computer, and communications system, for ballistic missile detection. The network of twelve radars, which was constructed beginning in 1958 and became operational in 1961, was built to detect a mass ballistic missile attack launched on northern approaches [for] 15 to 25 minutes' warning time also provided Project Space Track satellite data (e.g., about one-quarter of Space Detection and Tracking System, SPADATS observations). It was replaced by the Solid State Phased Array Radar System in 2001. Background The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was a radar system built by the United States (with the cooperation of Canada and Denmark on whose territory some of the radars were sited) during the Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Sovie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KC-135
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling tanker aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It has a narrower fuselage and is shorter than the 707. Boeing gave the aircraft the internal designation of Model 717 (number later assigned to a different Boeing aircraft). The KC-135 was the United States Air Force (USAF)'s first jet-powered refueling tanker and replaced the KC-97 Stratofreighter. The KC-135 was initially tasked with refueling strategic bombers, but it was used extensively in the Vietnam War and later conflicts such as Operation Desert Storm to extend the range and endurance of US tactical fighters and bombers. The KC-135 entered service with the USAF in 1957; it is one of nine military fixed-wing aircraft (six American, three Russian) with over 60 years of continuous serviceThe nine military fixed-wing aircraft with over 60 years of continuous service are Boeing B-52 Stratofortress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerial Refueling
Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft are in flight. The two main refueling systems are '' probe-and-drogue'', which is simpler to adapt to existing aircraft and the '' flying boom'', which offers faster fuel transfer, but requires a dedicated boom operator station. The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne longer, extending its range or loiter time. A series of air refuelings can give range limited only by crew fatigue/physical needs and engineering factors such as engine oil consumption. Because the receiver aircraft is topped-off with extra fuel in the air, air refueling can allow a takeoff with a greater payload which could be weapons, cargo, or personnel: the maximum takeoff weight is maintained by carrying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1961 Yuba City B-52 Crash
On 14 March 1961 an aircraft accident occurred near Yuba City, California. A United States Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, B-52F-70-BW Stratofortress bomber, AF Serial No. ''57-0166'', c/n 464155, carrying two nuclear weapons departed from Mather Air Force Base near Sacramento, California, Sacramento. According to the official Air Force report, the aircraft experienced an uncontrolled decompression that required it to descend to in order to lower the cabin pressurization, cabin altitude. Increased fuel consumption caused by having to fly at lower altitude, combined with the inability to rendezvous with a tanker in time caused the aircraft to run out of fuel. The aircrew ejected safely, and the now uncrewed aircraft crashed west of Yuba City, tearing the nuclear weapons from the aircraft on impact. The weapons did not detonate, as their safety devices worked properly. A fireman was killed and several others injured in a road accident while en route to the accident scene. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
