Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
Encyclopedia
The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) was a United States military agency responsible for those aspects of nuclear weapon
s remaining under the military after the 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, and the support of nuclear testing
. The AFSWP was a joint organization, staffed by all three services, with its chief supported by two 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. However the short life of their lead-acid batteries and modulated neutron initiators, and the amount of heat generated by the fissile core
s, precluded storing them assembled. The large amounts of conventional explosive in each weapon likewise demanded special care be taken in handling. Groves hand-picked an elite 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, the weapons became mass produced, smaller, lighter, and easier to store, handle and maintain, with less assembly required. 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 was increasingly in a planning and training capacity rather than a field role. In 1958, the AFSWP became the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), a field agency of the Department of Defense
.
s were developed during World War II by the Manhattan Project
, a major research and development effort led by the United States, but with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the Manhattan Project was under the direction of Major General
Leslie R. Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The project had created a network of production facilities, most notably the uranium enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee
, the plutonium
production facilities at Hanford, Washington
and the weapons research and design laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico
. The weapons that the Manhattan Project developed were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
.
When the war ended, much remained to be done. The Manhattan Project had to support 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 a 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 themselves were hand-made devices, and a great deal of work remained to improve 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 that had not been possible under the pressure of wartime development.
Groves' biggest concern, however, was people. Soldier and scientist alike wanted to return to peacetime pursuits. There was a real prospect that wartime knowledge would be lost and there would be no one who knew how to handle and maintain nuclear weapons, much less improve the weapons and processes. The Manhattan Project had relied heavily on reservists, all of whom would be eligible for separation. To replace them, Groves asked for fifty West Point
graduates from the top ten percent of their classes to man bomb assembly teams at Sandia Base
. Groves felt that only such high quality personnel would be able to work with the scientists of Z Division who were currently doing the job. When General
Thomas T. Handy
turned down the request, Groves took the matter to the Chief of Staff of the Army, General of the Army
Dwight D. Eisenhower
, who similarly disapproved it. Groves then raised the matter with the Secretary of War, Robert P. Patterson
, who agreed with Groves. They would man the 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special), which would become a field unit under the Armed Forces Special weapons Project.
It was hoped that a new, permanent agency would soon be created to take over the responsibilities of the wartime Manhattan Project, 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 was signed by President Harry S. Truman
on 1 August 1946. It created a civilian agency, the United States Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC), to take over the functions and assets of the Manhattan Project, but the AEC did not assume its role until 1 January 1947. The Atomic Energy Act provided for 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. Forrestal appointed Rear Admiral
s Thorvald A. Solberg, Ralph A. Ofstie
and William S. Parsons.
, along with a deputy from 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 military body that dealt with the Atomic Energy Commission. In February 1947, Eisenhower and Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz appointed Groves as head of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, with Parsons as his deputy. Accordingly, Groves was appointed to the Military Liaison Committee, although the newly-appointed Atomic Energy Commission chairman, David E. Lilienthal, told Patterson that he did not think that it was a good idea.
Groves drafted a proposed organisation and charter for the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, which he sent to Eisenhower and Nimitz for approval in July 1947. They did not give Groves everything that he asked for. Groves wanted a status equal to that of a deputy to the Chief of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations, but the most they would allow for was a status equal to that of the head of a technical service, although he would still report directly to the chiefs. They also characterised the role as a staff post rather than a command, although Groves was already exercising the functions of a commander at Sandia. After 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 with Silverplate
during the war.
Groves initially established the headquarters of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project in the old offices of the Manhattan Project on the fifth floor of the New War Department Building in Washington, DC. On 15 April 1947 it moved to The Pentagon
. As the 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 18000 square feet (1,672.3 m²) of new offices inside the Pentagon. This included space for a soundproof conference room, a darkroom, and special 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 this company was never fully formed. For training purposes, Company B 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 the training of thousands of radar technicians at Camp Murphy 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.
The first bomb assembly team was formed in August 1947, followed by a second in December and a third in March 1948. However, experience with actually assembling the bombs had convincingly demonstrated the requirement, in Sandia if not in Washington, for a much larger unit. Groves reluctantly approved a larger 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 a Navy special weapons unit, as the Navy foresaw delivery of nuclear weapons with its new North American AJ Savage bombers from its new s. This 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 was created in May 1948. 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 then became the 111th, 122nd, 133rd and 144th Special Weapons Units. During the late 1940s the Air Force gradually became the major user of nuclear weapons. By the end of 1949, it had twelve assembly units, and another three in training, while the Army still had only four, and the Navy, three.
, Robert Oppenheimer
, had begun the move of ordnance functions to Sandia in late 1945. The laboratory's ordnance engineering division, known as Z Division, named after its first director, Jerrold R. Zacharias
, became split between Los Alamos and Sandia. Between March and July 1946, the whole of Z Division began relocating to Sandia, except for the mechanical engineering (Z-4) section, which followed in February 1947. Z Division worked on improving the mechanical and electrical reliability of the Mark 3 Fat Man
bomb, but this work was disrupted by the Crossroads tests.
The nuclear stockpile consisted of nuclear weapons components, not actual weapons. Meeting with President
Harry S. Truman
in April 1947, Lilienthal informed the President that not only were there no assembled weapons, but 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 core
s in storage in 1946, 13 in 1947, and 53 in 1948. Oppenheimer noted that 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 separate from the high explosive blocks that would surround them in the bomb because they generated enough heat to melt the explosive over time. The heat could also affect the cores themselves, provoking a phase transition
to a different allotrope of plutonium
. The cores then had to be inspected by technicians wearing gloves and respirators. The bomb's electrical power for its radar fuzes and detonators the came from a pair of lead-acid batteries. These had to be charged up 24 hours before use. After a few days, the bomb had to be partially disassembled so they could be re-charged; three days after that they had to be 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 detonator
s and the explosive lens
es. The nuclear group moved to Los Alamos to study 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 that later bomb assembly teams could be trained, and proceed to assemble a bomb. They also drew 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 consumed by planning for a field exercise in which a bomb team would deploy to a base, and assemble weapons under field conditions. A 20 feet (6.1 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) portable building was acquired and outfitted as field workshops was created that could be loaded onto 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. They then deployed by air to Wendover Field, Utah
, the home of the 509th Bombardment Group, the only unit operating Silverplate
B-29 bombers, and therefore the only B-29 group capable of using nuclear weapons. To simulate operational conditions, they took a roundabout route via New England and Seattle, Washington. 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
. To bolster the base defenses, Montague acquired 18 tanks. In another in November 1948, 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. Strauss, now an AEC commissioner, was disturbed at the number of AFSWP personnel who were participating, and feared that the Soviet Union
might launch a sneak attack on Eniwetak that would wipe out the nation's ability to assemble nuclear weapons. The successful testing of the Mark 4 nuclear bomb
was an important leap forward. The new weapon was a production design that was much easier to assemble and maintain. This enabled a bomb assembly team to be reduced to just 46 men. Nichols 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 bomb assembly was often undertaken by scientists. While the AFSWP was heavily involved in the planning, preparation and coordination of tests, it had limited participation in the tests themselves. During Operation Buster-Jangle
, AFSWP personnel showed films and gave lectures to some 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.
Groves retired at the end of February 1948, and Kenneth D. Nichols, the wartime commander of the Manhattan District, was designated as his successor, with the rank major general. At the same time, Forrestal, now the Secretary of Defense, reorganized the Military Liaison Committee. A civilian, Donald F. Carpenter from the Remington Arms Company, replaced Brereton as chairman, and there now two members from each of the three services. On 11 March, President
Harry S. Truman
summoned Lilienthal, Nichols and the Secretary of the Army, Kenneth C. Royall to his office, and told them that he expected the AFSWP and the AEC to cooperate.
Nichols position was the same as Groves' and Montague's: that the weapons needed to be available in an emergency, and the men who had to use them in battle needed to have experience in their maintenance, storage and handling. Norris Bradbury
, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory
argued that what the weapons needed was further development. Rapid transfer could be accomplished by improved procedures, while other difficulties could best be resolved by further development, which would mostly come from the scientists. Forrestal and Carpenter took the matter up with Truman, but on 21 July 1948 Truman issued his decision: "I regard the continued control of all aspects of the atomic energy program, including research, development and 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 the transfer of 90 sets of non-nuclear Mark 4 components to the AFSWP for training purposes, and in December, he authorized the carriage of non-nuclear components on board the Midway-class carriers. In April 1951, the AEC released nine weapons to the Air Force in case the Soviet Union intervened in the war in Korea. They were flown to Guam where they were maintained by the Air Force special weapons unit there. Thus, at 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. 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 the president, approved the deployment of nuclear components in equal numbers to non-nuclear components. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954
amended 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 in excess of 19,000 megatons.
As nuclear weapons development proceeded, the weapons became increasingly smaller, simpler and lighter. They also became easier to store, assemble, test and maintain. Thus, while 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 as its primary mission, and became more involved in the management of the rapidly growing nuclear stockpile, and providing technical advice and logistical support. Nonetheless, by 1953, the AFSWP Field Command had 10,250 personnel. On 16 October 1953, 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.
development, where the Soviet Sputnik program had demonstrated that country's technological lead over the United States. The Army and Air Force had rival programs, PGM-17 Thor
and PGM-19 Jupiter, and 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 enhanced the authority of the Secretary of Defense, who was authorised 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 the act was the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), which replaced the AFSWP on 1 May 1959. The new agency reported to the Secretary of Defence through the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was given responsibility for the supervision of all Department of Defense nuclear testing, which had hitherto been handled by the individual services. Otherwise, its role and organization remained much the same, with Admiral Parker remaining as its first director. However, Eisenhower's proposed Nuclear testing moratorium would ultimately fundamentally change 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 or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s remaining under the military after the the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
was succeeded by the Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
on 1 January 1947. These responsibilities included the maintenance, storage, surveillance, security and handling of nuclear weapons, and the support of nuclear testing
Nuclear testing
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
. The AFSWP was a joint organization, staffed by all three services, with its chief supported by two deputies from the other two services. Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
Leslie R. Groves, the former head of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, 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. However the short life of their lead-acid batteries and modulated neutron initiators, and the amount of heat generated by the fissile core
Pit (nuclear weapon)
The pit is the core of an implosion weapon – the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it. Some weapons tested during the 1950s used pits made with U-235 alone, or in composite with plutonium, but all-plutonium pits are the smallest in diameter and have been the standard...
s, precluded storing them assembled. The large amounts of conventional explosive in each weapon likewise demanded special care be taken in handling. Groves hand-picked an elite 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, the weapons became mass produced, smaller, lighter, and easier to store, handle and maintain, with less assembly required. 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
Operation Sandstone
Operation Sandstone was a series of nuclear weapon tests in 1948. It was the third series of American tests, following Crossroads and preceding Ranger...
in 1948, this was increasingly in a planning and training capacity rather than a field role. In 1958, the AFSWP became the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), a field agency of the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
.
Origins
Nuclear weaponNuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s were developed during World War II by the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, a major research and development effort led by the United States, but with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the Manhattan Project was under the direction of Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
Leslie R. Groves of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The project had created a network of production facilities, most notably the uranium enrichment facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
, the plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
production facilities at Hanford, Washington
Hanford Site
The Hanford Site is a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, operated by the United States federal government. The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works or HEW, Hanford Nuclear Reservation...
and the weapons research and design laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
. The weapons that the Manhattan Project developed were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
.
When the war ended, much remained to be done. The Manhattan Project had to support the nuclear weapons testing at Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
as part of Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
in 1946. One of Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal
James Forrestal
James Vincent Forrestal was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense....
's aides, Lewis Strauss proposed a 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 themselves were hand-made devices, and a great deal of work remained to improve 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 that had not been possible under the pressure of wartime development.
Groves' biggest concern, however, was people. Soldier and scientist alike wanted to return to peacetime pursuits. There was a real prospect that wartime knowledge would be lost and there would be no one who knew how to handle and maintain nuclear weapons, much less improve the weapons and processes. The Manhattan Project had relied heavily on reservists, all of whom would be eligible for separation. To replace them, Groves asked for fifty West Point
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
graduates from the top ten percent of their classes to man bomb assembly teams at Sandia Base
Sandia Base
Sandia Base was, from 1946 to 1971, the principal nuclear weapons installation of the United States Department of Defense. It was located on the southeastern edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico...
. Groves felt that only such high quality personnel would be able to work with the scientists of Z Division who were currently doing the job. When General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
Thomas T. Handy
Thomas T. Handy
Thomas Troy Handy was a United States Army four-star general who served as Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Army from 1944 to 1947; Commanding General, Fourth United States Army from 1947 to 1949; Commander in Chief, United States European Command from 1949 to 1952; Commander in Chief, U.S...
turned down the request, Groves took the matter to the Chief of Staff of the Army, General of the Army
General of the Army
General of the Army is a military rank used in some countries to denote a senior military leader, usually a General in command of a nation's Army. It may also be the title given to a General who commands an Army in the field....
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, who similarly disapproved it. Groves then raised the matter with the Secretary of War, Robert P. Patterson
Robert P. Patterson
Robert Porter Patterson was the United States Under Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of War under President Harry S. Truman from September 27, 1945 to July 18, 1947....
, who agreed with Groves. They would man the 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special), which would become a field unit under the Armed Forces Special weapons Project.
It was hoped that a new, permanent agency would soon be created to take over the responsibilities of the wartime Manhattan Project, but passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946
Atomic Energy Act of 1946
The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 determined how the United States federal government would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its wartime allies...
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 was signed by President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
on 1 August 1946. It created a civilian agency, the United States Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
(AEC), to take over the functions and assets of the Manhattan Project, but the AEC did not assume its role until 1 January 1947. The Atomic Energy Act provided for a Military Liaison Committee to advise the AEC on military matters, so Patterson appointed Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
Lewis H. Brereton
Lewis H. Brereton
Lewis Hyde Brereton was a military aviation pioneer and lieutenant general in the United States Air Force...
, who became chairman, along with Major General Lunsford E. Oliver and Colonel John H. Hinds. Forrestal appointed Rear Admiral
Rear admiral (United States)
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...
s Thorvald A. Solberg, Ralph A. Ofstie
Ralph A. Ofstie
Ralph Andrew Ofstie was a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, an escort carrier commander in World War II, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations , and Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. He was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and his hometown was Everett, Washington.-Naval Academy and World War...
and William S. Parsons.
Organization
Patterson asked Groves to create a new agency to take over responsibility for aspects of nuclear weapons remaining under the military, which would be a jointly staffed by the Army and Navy. On 29 January 1947, Patterson and Forrestal issued a memorandum establishing the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project. Its chief would be jointly appointed by the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Chief of Naval OperationsChief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
, along with a deputy from 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 military body that dealt with the Atomic Energy Commission. In February 1947, Eisenhower and Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz appointed Groves as head of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, with Parsons as his deputy. Accordingly, Groves was appointed to the Military Liaison Committee, although the newly-appointed Atomic Energy Commission chairman, David E. Lilienthal, told Patterson that he did not think that it was a good idea.
Groves drafted a proposed organisation and charter for the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, which he sent to Eisenhower and Nimitz for approval in July 1947. They did not give Groves everything that he asked for. Groves wanted a status equal to that of a deputy to the Chief of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations, but the most they would allow for was a status equal to that of the head of a technical service, although he would still report directly to the chiefs. They also characterised the role as a staff post rather than a command, although Groves was already exercising the functions of a commander at Sandia. After the National Security Act of 1947
National Security Act of 1947
The National Security Act of 1947 was signed by United States President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1947, and realigned and reorganized the U.S. Armed Forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II...
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 with Silverplate
Silverplate
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project for the B-29 Superfortress to enable it to drop an atomic weapon, Silverplate eventually came to identify...
during the war.
Groves initially established the headquarters of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project in the old offices of the Manhattan Project on the fifth floor of the New War Department Building in Washington, DC. On 15 April 1947 it moved to The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
. As the 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 18000 square feet (1,672.3 m²) of new offices inside the Pentagon. This included space for a soundproof conference room, a darkroom, and special vaults where its records and films were stored.
The 2761st Engineer Battalion (Special) at Sandia was commanded by Colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
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 this company was never fully formed. For training purposes, Company B 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
Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
John A. Ord, a Signal Corps officer with a doctor of science
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology
Carnegie Institute of Technology
The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...
who had directed the training of thousands of radar technicians at Camp Murphy Southern Signal Corps School
Camp Murphy Southern Signal Corps School
The United States Army Signal Corps established Camp Murphy, a top-secret radar training school in 1942. Camp Murphy was located between Stuart and Jupiter in what is now Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County in southeastern Florida, at coordinates ....
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
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
Robert M. Montague. The TTG was soon reporting directly to Montague.
The first bomb assembly team was formed in August 1947, followed by a second in December and a third in March 1948. However, experience with actually assembling the bombs had convincingly demonstrated the requirement, in Sandia if not in Washington, for a much larger unit. Groves reluctantly approved a larger 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 a Navy special weapons unit, as the Navy foresaw delivery of nuclear weapons with its new North American AJ Savage bombers from its new s. This 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 was created in May 1948. 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 then became the 111th, 122nd, 133rd and 144th Special Weapons Units. During the late 1940s the Air Force gradually became the major user of nuclear weapons. By the end of 1949, it had twelve assembly units, and another three in training, while the Army still had only four, and the Navy, three.
Field operations
Groves and the wartime director of the Los Alamos LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
, Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Oppenheimer
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Along with Enrico Fermi, he is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project, the World War II project that developed the first...
, had begun the move of ordnance functions to Sandia in late 1945. The laboratory's ordnance engineering division, known as Z Division, named after its first director, Jerrold R. Zacharias
Jerrold R. Zacharias
Jerrold Reinach Zacharias was an American physicist and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.-Career:Zacharias was involved in both the Radiation Laboratory at MIT and the Manhattan Project...
, became split between Los Alamos and Sandia. Between March and July 1946, the whole of Z Division began relocating to Sandia, except for the mechanical engineering (Z-4) section, which followed in February 1947. Z Division worked on improving the mechanical and electrical reliability of the Mark 3 Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
bomb, but this work was disrupted by the Crossroads tests.
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Mark 3 Fat Man external components
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The nuclear stockpile consisted of nuclear weapons components, not actual weapons. Meeting with President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
in April 1947, Lilienthal informed the President that not only were there no assembled weapons, but 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 core
Pit (nuclear weapon)
The pit is the core of an implosion weapon – the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it. Some weapons tested during the 1950s used pits made with U-235 alone, or in composite with plutonium, but all-plutonium pits are the smallest in diameter and have been the standard...
s in storage in 1946, 13 in 1947, and 53 in 1948. Oppenheimer noted that 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 separate from the high explosive blocks that would surround them in the bomb because they generated enough heat to melt the explosive over time. The heat could also affect the cores themselves, provoking a phase transition
Phase transition
A phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase or state of matter to another.A phase of a thermodynamic system and the states of matter have uniform physical properties....
to a different allotrope of plutonium
Allotropes of plutonium
Even at ambient pressure, plutonium occurs in a variety of allotropes. These allotropes differ widely in crystal structure and density; the α and δ allotropes differ in density by more than 25% at constant pressure....
. The cores then had to be inspected by technicians wearing gloves and respirators. The bomb's electrical power for its radar fuzes and detonators the came from a pair of lead-acid batteries. These had to be charged up 24 hours before use. After a few days, the bomb had to be partially disassembled so they could be re-charged; three days after that they had to be replaced.
Exploding-bridgewire detonator
The exploding-bridgewire detonator is a type of detonator used to initiate the detonation reaction in explosive materials, similar to a blasting cap in that it is fired using an electric current...
s and the explosive lens
Explosive lens
An explosive lens—as used, for example, in nuclear weapons—is a highly specialized explosive charge, a special type of a shaped charge. In general, it is a device composed of several explosive charges that are shaped in such a way as to change the shape of the detonation wave passing through it,...
es. The nuclear group moved to Los Alamos to study the cores and initiators. As part of their training, they attended lectures by Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
, Hans Bethe
Hans Bethe
Hans Albrecht Bethe was a German-American nuclear physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. A versatile theoretical physicist, Bethe also made important contributions to quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, solid-state physics and...
, Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...
and Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
. 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 that later bomb assembly teams could be trained, and proceed to assemble a bomb. They also drew a proposed table of organization and equipment
Table of Organization and Equipment
A table of organization and equipment is a document published by the U.S. Department of Defense which prescribes the organization, staffing, and equippage of units. Also used in acronyms as 'T/O' and 'T/E'....
for an assembly team. It took two weeks for them to assemble their first bomb in December 1946.
Most of 1947 was consumed by planning for a field exercise in which a bomb team would deploy to a base, and assemble weapons under field conditions. A 20 feet (6.1 m) by 100 feet (30.5 m) portable building was acquired and outfitted as field workshops was created that could be loaded onto 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. They then deployed by air to Wendover Field, Utah
Wendover Air Force Base
Wendover Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Utah now known as Wendover Airport. During World War II it was a training base for B-17 and B-24 bomber crews. It was the training site of the 509th Composite Group, the B-29 unit which dropped the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs...
, the home of the 509th Bombardment Group, the only unit operating Silverplate
Silverplate
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project for the B-29 Superfortress to enable it to drop an atomic weapon, Silverplate eventually came to identify...
B-29 bombers, and therefore the only B-29 group capable of using nuclear weapons. To simulate operational conditions, they took a roundabout route via New England and Seattle, Washington. 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
Inyokern, California
Inyokern is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Inyokern is located west of Ridgecrest, at an elevation of 2434 feet . Located in the Indian Wells Valley. The population was 1,099 at the 2010 census, up from 984 at the 2000 census...
.
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
Fort Hood, Texas
Fort Hood is a United States military post located outside of Killeen, Texas. The post is named after Confederate General John Bell Hood. It islocated halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas....
. To bolster the base defenses, Montague acquired 18 tanks. In another in November 1948, the 471st Special Weapons Unit flew to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
and practiced bomb assembly on board the Midway-class aircraft carriers.
Nuclear testing
Operation Sandstone
Operation Sandstone was a series of nuclear weapon tests in 1948. It was the third series of American tests, following Crossroads and preceding Ranger...
in 1948, Groves ordered Dorland to fill every possible job with his men. Strauss, now an AEC commissioner, was disturbed at the number of AFSWP personnel who were participating, and feared that the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
might launch a sneak attack on Eniwetak that would wipe out the nation's ability to assemble nuclear weapons. The successful testing of the Mark 4 nuclear bomb
Mark 4 nuclear bomb
The Mark 4 nuclear bomb was an American nuclear bomb design produced starting in 1949 and in use until 1953.The Mark 4 was based on the earlier Mark 3 Fat Man design, used in the Trinity test and the bombing of Nagasaki...
was an important leap forward. The new weapon was a production design that was much easier to assemble and maintain. This enabled a bomb assembly team to be reduced to just 46 men. Nichols 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 bomb assembly was often undertaken by scientists. While the AFSWP was heavily involved in the planning, preparation and coordination of tests, it had limited participation in the tests themselves. During Operation Buster-Jangle
Operation Buster-Jangle
Operation Buster-Jangle was a series of seven nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States in late 1951 at the Nevada Test Site. Buster-Jangle was the first joint test program between the DOD and Los Alamos National Laboratories. 6,500 troops were involved in the Desert Rock I, II, and III...
, AFSWP personnel showed films and gave lectures to some 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
Operation Upshot-Knothole
Operation Upshot-Knothole was a series of eleven nuclear test shots conducted in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site.Over twenty-one thousand soldiers took part in the ground exercise Desert Rock V in conjunction with the Grable shot...
in 1953.
Custody of nuclear weapons
When the AEC was formed in 1947, it had 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 had requested that custody of the nuclear stockpile be transferred to the military, but Lilienthal believed that AEC custody of the stockpile was an important aspect of civilian control of nuclear weapons. He was also disturbed that the AFSWP had not informed the AEC in advance of Operation Ajax. Groves suspected that the AEC was not keeping bomb components in the condition in which the military wanted to receive them, and Operation Ajax 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 was no adequate logistic support for the weapon." Montague 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 Kenneth D. Nichols, the wartime commander of the Manhattan District, was designated as his successor, with the rank major general. At the same time, Forrestal, now the Secretary of Defense, reorganized the Military Liaison Committee. A civilian, Donald F. Carpenter from the Remington Arms Company, replaced Brereton as chairman, and there now two members from each of the three services. On 11 March, President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
summoned Lilienthal, Nichols and the Secretary of the Army, Kenneth C. Royall to his office, and told them that he expected the AFSWP and the AEC to cooperate.
Nichols position was the same as Groves' and Montague's: that the weapons needed to be available in an emergency, and the men who had to use them in battle needed to have experience in their maintenance, storage and handling. Norris Bradbury
Norris Bradbury
Norris Edwin Bradbury , was an American physicist who was born in Santa Barbara, California. He served as director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 25 years , succeeding J. Robert Oppenheimer, who personally chose Bradbury for the position of director after working closely with him on the...
, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
argued that what the weapons needed was further development. Rapid transfer could be accomplished by improved procedures, while other difficulties could best be resolved by further development, which would mostly come from the scientists. Forrestal and Carpenter took the matter up with Truman, but on 21 July 1948 Truman issued his decision: "I regard the continued control of all aspects of the atomic energy program, including research, development and the custody of atomic weapons as the proper functions of the civil authorities."
With the outbreak of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
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 the transfer of 90 sets of non-nuclear Mark 4 components to the AFSWP for training purposes, and in December, he authorized the carriage of non-nuclear components on board the Midway-class carriers. In April 1951, the AEC released nine weapons to the Air Force in case the Soviet Union intervened in the war in Korea. They were flown to Guam where they were maintained by the Air Force special weapons unit there. Thus, at 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. 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 the president, approved the deployment of nuclear components in equal numbers to non-nuclear components. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954
Atomic Energy Act of 1954
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. § 2011 et seq., is a United States federal law that is, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "the fundamental U.S...
amended 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 in excess of 19,000 megatons.
As nuclear weapons development proceeded, the weapons became increasingly smaller, simpler and lighter. They also became easier to store, assemble, test and maintain. Thus, while 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 as its primary mission, and became more involved in the management of the rapidly growing nuclear stockpile, and providing technical advice and logistical support. Nonetheless, by 1953, the AFSWP Field Command had 10,250 personnel. On 16 October 1953, 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.
Conversion to Defense Atomic Support Agency
In April 1958, President Eisenhower asked Congress for legislation to overhaul the Department of Defense. Over a decade had passed since the legislation which had established it. Eisenhower was concerned about the degree of inter-service rivalry, duplication and mismanagement that was all too evident in many programs. Nowhere was this more evident than in ballistic missileBallistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
development, where the Soviet Sputnik program had demonstrated that country's technological lead over the United States. The Army and Air Force had rival programs, PGM-17 Thor
PGM-17 Thor
Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the U.S. Air Force . Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate range ballistic missile with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was in height and in diameter. It was...
and PGM-19 Jupiter, and the additional cost to the taxpayers of developing two systems instead of one was estimated at $500 million.
The Defense Reorganization Act of 1958
Defense Reorganization Act of 1958
The Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1958 is a United States federal law which was created to provide for more effective administration for the Department of Defense . Written and promoted by the Eisenhower administration, it was signed into law August 6, 1958...
was signed by Eisenhower in August 1958. It enhanced the authority of the Secretary of Defense, who was authorised 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 the act was the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), which replaced the AFSWP on 1 May 1959. The new agency reported to the Secretary of Defence through the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was given responsibility for the supervision of all Department of Defense nuclear testing, which had hitherto been handled by the individual services. Otherwise, its role and organization remained much the same, with Admiral Parker remaining as its first director. However, Eisenhower's proposed Nuclear testing moratorium would ultimately fundamentally change DASA's mission, as nuclear testing was phased out, Cold War tensions eased, and nuclear disarmament became a prospect.