Operation HARDTACK High Altitude Tests

Operation HARDTACK High Altitude Tests

Rejissyor: Lookout Mountain Laboratory USAF. Operation HARDTACK I consisted of 35 nuclear tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground between April 28 and August 18, 1958. These tests included balloon, surface, barge, underwater, and rocket-borne high-altitude tests. The first test, Yucca, was a nuclear device attached to a helium balloon launched from the USS Boxer near Enewetak Atoll. HARDTACK I consisted of three portions; the first was the development of nuclear weapons. This was a continuation of the type of testing conducted at Enewetak and Bikini during the early and mid-1950s. In these tests, the weapons development laboratories, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and the University of California Radiation Laboratory (later named Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory), detonated their experimental devices, while the Department of Defense (DoD) provided support and conducted experiments that did not interfere with Atomic Energy Commission activities. The second portion, sponsored by the DoD, consisted of the underwater tests Wahoo and Umbrella. Wahoo was detonated in the deep, open ocean southwest of Boken Island, and Umbrella inside the western end of the lagoon at Enewetak. The purpose of these tests was to improve the understanding of the effects of underwater explosions on Navy ships and material. These were continuations of earlier underwater testing that included Baker in CROSSROADS at Bikini in 1946 and WIGWAM off the U.S. West Coast in 1955. The DoD also sponsored the third portion, addressing the military problems of air-borne nuclear weapon defense. Three high-altitude tests featured rocket-borne Teak and Orange at Johnston Island and balloon-hoisted Yucca between Enewetak and Bikini. Two major aspects of HARDTACK I's experimental program were the development of the weapons themselves and the measurement of the explosive and radiation effects. Also, since the development of a nuclear armed fleet ballistic missile was on a fast track, a portion of HARDTACK I was devoted to testing the warhead

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