SAC 2006S P%2ZCTTO "Sy . 3 saeth Cee This document consists of G é tT on feUs DTAOOuwamerwcnora QA LTA oeBLaese 3 No. weg A fp a Copies, Series <7 oe SECRET. MA:ADS 412014 Ce R . “ry m a oo Bee pages : or Eg. 4d, oF SoAeoe 5 ? Honorable Henry M. Jackson Chairman, Subcommittee on Military Applications Joint Committee on Atomic Energy Congress of the United States Dear Senator Jackson: —. During General Starbird's appearance before the Subcommittee on Military Applications of the Joint Committee on January 23, 1956, bs a discussion took place relative to the testing of Live nucleer 3 - = /\ ~> werheads in the Ding Dong rocket and the Nike B. o j relative to the need for the testing of the complete weapons to include nuclear warheads. In producing a nuclear warhead for a missile, as for a bomb, it. is ' S necessary to follow a procedure whereby the weapon is tested in various stages of development so as to insure that it will operate reliably upon completion and be capable of being stockpiled even without a true proof test of the complete warhesd-miesile system. The procedure followed mekea use of extensive laboratory tests and of flight tests to achieve this reliability. “ =" = =a &6 Ese GsOG As requested at hearing, the following elaboration of testimony is provided O - Pre-production test programe can be divided inte three phases. In the first phase a laboratory nuclear device ia produced and fired § ff to test experimentally the new design principles incorporated. The ‘eget9 resulting nuclear system design is usually sufficiently close to in jie dQ the laboratory device design to insure « reliably predicted behavior — Bl” 2S &3 s 3ge = ue 212 Fgz tS 26 59738% ie Bes #58 ¥ slggee age. diG3588222/ : SCNet re xP ws @ ZENE 5 : B SENSE | a NS @ BA gos ag 32 ge PALA © for the stockpile weapon. In the second phase the non-nuclear components developed for the stockpile version are tested individually in the lsboratory. Here, by means of test celis, cold-chambere, vibrators and other environment simulating equipment, the resistance and functioning of these components ere examined under conditions more extreme than expected in actual employment. In the third phase all components sre assembled and tested as a complete system with the exception that dumy nuclear material and usually dummy bigh explosives ere substituted for the live mterial. The arming, ‘fusing ‘and firing systems are all sequentially proven in this stage, in ATA DE CALER SLeD.ap © we — taas defined WO of 4. lis transmitiah bs/3 oo i OKSHA2ROCCOCO! 5) ett U tos preiabited. TE Sala eee ooh PomwstecseceteSt] PPAF GC RETARIAU?2.20G8as, (Elie Ae AEEOLS EY : 5 COPY FOR SECRETARIAT> any manna. t9 mo at L2F 7 fe Panpbeg‘ Hee fo igee. he Se if | oF BOERS opm ee (nen , . + on o :