Operation Hardtack, military effects studies part two high altitude studies: unclassified original

Las Vegas, NV : U.S. DOE/Nevada Operations Office, 1958.

eng

1 videocassette (24 min, 45 sec.) : black and white ; 1/2 in. (VHS).

"The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Albuquerque Operatons Office, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), is committed to making available to the public historically significant films describing various aspects of the U.S. nuclear weapons development program. The process of declassifying these films is an ongoing task. The enclosed fact sheets provide information on each video."
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, 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 DoD, consisted of the underwater tests WAHOO and UMBRELLA. WAHOO was detonated in the open ocean and UMBRELLA in 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-bome TEAK and ORANGE at Johnston Island and balloon-hoisted YUCCA between Enewetak and B ik ini. 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 for the Polaris missile.

This is a declassified US Department of Energy video on the Ivy Flats project.

Electronic resource

CTBTO

Electronic resource