A Review of Upshot-Knothole Projects 4.1, 5.1, and 6.11 with Regard to Operational Hazards

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concerwd 4th rtulylng radiation levels virhin the rmcieu cloud at the earliest possible timer o f penetration; in particular when the chu4 reacher, 25*000 to 3O,OOO f e e t and again aYter stabillration. project is divided i n t o tuo p~ases: the Drone Phaae and tba Canister ? h e . This projoct is conBoth phaeea are attempts to arrive at the desired resdt by differen: ' 3. Project 5.1 in entitled, 'Navy Drone Pro:ectn, and i o concer with in ve o tip ting the EffeCtS of blast and thermal on afr crs it in fL A Navy attack type sircrqft (m2)operated under drone contrcl by WCLicr. rirwdt (Navy IW) rill be positioned at a wi table dent rsng. (Crcr tow? nhots o n u ) om' a course going auay f r o m the 51asr ao as EO :ecoi~o the blut md thermal radiation from tho rear below EO ~iaulnU,A* d:.~ u pomrible, an aircraft e8cauiEg after btlivery of an atomic bomb. Tkeso.$~ aircraft w i l l ke precirely poeitioned i n opace by control and plot from a .?' tlculu tbe O l a E t l C resmnfe of the airframe thereto. !Phis project rill Sl be operated on air oro:: ahote only ana the test aircraft vill be poriof positioning insures ?:eelso timing and l e sinu1e t c achieve. StuLier ...~ are goiw on at the nresrnt theat WADC and at US WC to determinr optisru --D?.. ther in vee tip tion of the bloct effse:r on aircraft in fi:t;f.,t and i n par- *Since the above l i e t o 4 pro.jectr were proposed by agencies cmcerned &--- approved f o r accompllehmnt 37 the RDB. no atfcmpr. will be :*de herein t o

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mano of a radio controlled Uroae rir or aft (w-80 trp.) i n orbr ta rtudJ the rrdiation lenla encountend aad t o muhit toot mid0 to watod drone aircraft, with their acco ~ i ~wtber rircrrit. be 0p.rdler .authmot of tho YevSub hriag Ground. 6. It i o the intention of thio project to peastrate the 'puff. m 7. Alternate bn6ee of operntioa t a event Mwardo AIB i o unmikblr, arm Oeorp AYB, n t Victorville sad n8 a ln st rer ort, Inllian Sprit ~APB. I t rill be noted by reference t o the map attached h.retoa th. direct courae from Mu u dr AFB t n the Nevhda Proving Ground i o ow? deoert umu with only ono o r two sinor inhabited aZE(LI enrcute. T!n dlotsnes isre hell in thio course is roughly compmable t o the time xquired for t b five minuter. thence raturn to home h o e and lanblng of two drolU0. hro korrro u9 watioced oiaee ~l.xirumof two dronr pclnetratioao rill k atkmpted on aay one ohot. u e a gonorally t o tho'eas+ of th6 tnrget a d located 00 a.5 to b, free of all other aircraft patterns; control and pooltion plott i hg uhil. i n t& orbit to be curled out,,& I ) ground operated radar of the KsQ 1 type. The ground controller d tho radar otation w i l l operate the dronp COP bels .nd 00 direct the drone as to be heeded toward the shot point uui A prodetmr~lnrddiotance away at the time of detOMtiOn. Tho wth0t aircraft will Bo in co nrt mt attendance on tho drom during thio ti-, to monitor t t e aetiono md to aorlot the ground contrala aa required. Tho &one0 will b. 00 pooltioned that their inbound coures from tbir orbit rill t.Lol them t o the predicted poeitlon of the rio ing cloud at thb tin the ~ ~ h r 0 0 8reacher the crltitude coacernd. I t i o planned to ban 00. drone ponotrnte the cloud at approximately ~ ,OO Of eet WSL and tb othbr one at 3 * 0 0 0 foot USL. slou6) which will then taka oror control and d i r e c t the dram back to remain% in tha target area for approx iut alt t not f - I t is planned t o haw the aron8 Siro raft uriw lamediately after penetration the &roe.

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b. Pkk f licht to target I &, Tho return trip to horn bar0 'Ebarr is no simple wiy t o ernlute the hzardr listed a h a Iwc al muiasr. , of proper maintenancm o f the drone opwating equipment pluo +- of training: m d exparienca of tho personnel concerned with tho continue in an intenrive manner up until the time of tha actd on taka off. If this happens it will oont likely occur about.th..ti about thirty de geer each slde of tho centerline of the runway, ,bat point about ono third of the r a ~don! the runway. I t is tb~rrfom,;;>+$ necessarr t o Select a runway 8uch tbat no vital in r tell rti oas be mithia-:~~~.j tin sixtr deqee area eentloned. howover, tha runvsyr at Shard. will n o t permit a take off with tha nhro rafety nngler. If oparatlon 18 based a t Indian Spring8 AFB, the wd o f f ' .ay bo d e on mkyn6 or 31 while maintaining the aaf ott aagler., off 011 other f u ~ yap 8w ill not be permissible. solo ~ tia gtho flight path of the aircraft in ruck aanner that loas of control of th drone at any time during the flight would re rul t in a onlj in an uninhnbited area. TM6 item w i l l k given dotnilad attentloa:,. ia .irriw planning. Pmvious experience ha8 shown that once nirborm::;. a d nndor good control, the drone aircraft do not have .reriow. wnttal. -'- difficultier Unlers acten upnn by outride Jnfluencea. Thereforo,.it.lL;~T: considered that the f l i c h t to the titreat mi tbe prerhot orbitting .bo .ccoapllohed with little,if any. hazard t o perronnel or 13. Tb bsud.of tbe flight to the tarmt area minlmired'bE:

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ing the flight path of the drone, mud&tht-t&&$&t la badimg - hurd ta perroanel on the g~-~undxill-k miniaired in ,areat og coatr failure during tte .pnetrntion. during thi6 time which cnuseo diff l cult y in the mu%seqkns.r+lo toitrol control of the mother aircraft, no particular difficulty by a pair of grmud rt ation r which take over control when on final appzoach. one doer zot expect any control difficulty during lani in por sib lli ty8XiStS of n hard landing blowing atire.orc beginning at the touch down point. failure eay prevent functionlng of certain oyoterns flaps, power controlr, etc. dmlibarste crarh landing of the drone a t #om point Itir believed that Yucca lake ian 6uitable rite for ruch m~8-r landing. This type of lnnding i o redo by the director rircr&* w l ground asslrtancr. ur8 of Indian Sprlngr AFB prerentr more problear from the landing rtrndpoint than doe. Edwardr AFB oince the X a a n S runw irrdl comperad t o the wide expanse of 'laice bed at r;avatdr. landing craoh a t Xndiaa Springs might possibly daz- : might re rul t in closing the runway for a time. Thli EO inconvenient during the time of the cloud rampling the.eone dovn l n event cf complete contrcl failure with the airc-af atill flying. i t .ia intended to furniah a fighter eocort. Thdro*.atr will escort t* drone from home bare to the operational &en and 'b.c tbir actloar and instructed t o take orderr only from tho torrain mer which they are flying to insure incofar nr poirihlo l t li clear, dree rt area with little llkellhood of Wily: injured by ruch action. All in all, although t Armmine the control o f the dro Iloor. If thlr occuro, we may expect a crash within A 0 An emergency of this tppe 16. A8 a rafe iy feature t o provide a hat resort hr th cr a ore, if it rhould bconle nec

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nmte to the drone penetration method. however. it una approved a# a meparate project and instructions to continw' both phmer uero fnrtheodng. lag tho radiation hazard i n thdclond during tlm firrt few minusas .Itor shot, by dropping i n t o the cloud cap a group of radiation iMtmB@ntr attached to parachute8 rod arranged t o telemeter radiation intenrit%er received by the inrtrument t o receivers on tho god. It l a intended tht this project be carried out by meanr of two aircraft. one a 8-29 flying at approximately 30,000 feet t o drnp a group of five canirzerr at approx i ~ atel yII /. 1 minute. The drop time ud place baing so s?rurg.btht'th canisterm wiil atand the bent poroible cbnce of y not rating,,. in a rini lar manner a t reven t o ten minuter after shot tis9 from 8-47 : ~ (:.. . . of canloterr i r intenlad to penetrate t% *puffa at or 1:e3r t h s at.bili& although admittedly the probability of hitting the cloul rith tnaae Candifficulty (the dropr take place after mhot tine and with 30 intarfernnor method and its application to future tertr. Project 5.1; Mavy Blaat Drone: 17. Thir phee of the program vas originJt;' auggetted as UI . I t e r Yo part iz a iar difficulty is seen i n arranr;-r.g for the dropi, Since this project prerents oa1y ninor open tion d ... 16. The object of this project (sponsored by the Kavp) in Mi merti - aircraft will operece-on tower ihotr only and will present a0 seriovs rutoriel on the wound can be mininitad. ,: AS 10W of control of this drone nir craft in concerned wlli be the tim immediately after shock wave arrival. ' Itin therefore interdad tlut tbre aircraft 30 poritioned a t shock arrl;al,tioe so as t o ta headed ' anar from the .bot area and into nn unoccupied area on the 67ounk Itir intended that operation be barea at Indiln optima flight p thr for theoe aircraft. the haurd to prrroan.1 and ... The moat dangerous tlw.in r of u thoro aircraft will be escorted by armed fighter r with inatructions t o damtroy the drone if nemrsarf. ~

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1. .. 20. TIWJ object of ttiis exparimntai project am stated &TO. i m grid4pilot ladoctrlaatloa. It i s tho conmidared opinion of hc t ical Air Commed. that in wdor to b worth while at Ul. thls p i l o t fnbc%r:- nation rhould involvo fairly Cloee approach to fhr p?Ori.itt o f the thsrmal fiold of tho atalc detonation. Zho oridnal #tats&desire of mix cd.oriem Fsr am incident t h e m 1 radiation, Subsequent imestlzntfon imm revealed that It Is almost ileporsible to plam tho air cr afr clome enough to get t h i r therms1 input in H e w of othor owrational CWS.,Z t e a t aircraft. me operations annlyris secticn of &aqwr:err. pncti- ' api,roxinmtely fire meconds dter the bob is rrleanrb from she d m a2-. - c.rsft an6 wing the bomb rslease am a si& of execution. Thio m neu wr .,- .?'OJ a pull up mo a@t o present the tail of the aircraft to thri burst. bleulatioam ohov that f o r a shot of the atrength of thm Effect8 ab:. , :::.~:,; .i to dopart the tout uoa. 21. Aircraft concerned in Project 6.11 rill operato from tkorga #.Sf a prebeteralned orbit point wherr they will await completion ni mellrianry wind run^* Ctc.. by the drop aircraft. Whan Cirected tc. do IO the aircraft rill fall Into position behind the &op aircraft tnc iontinus. feariblo mot a for aircraft o f Tactical AI? Colaeund to ?yrticiueto ~3 pstioa on bni .hot# that the psrticipating air croft should be rr nt ric ted for tha rircrrit or la oh tion in guentiqn. It im further conmidsred that if TAC denirec put i cf - 22. It Is concluded that projects 5.1; 5.2. 6.11 and tho*cmnimkr