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UNITED STATES
ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
WASHINGTON 25, D. C,
February 24, 1956
Honorable Henry M, Jackson
Chairman, Subcommittee on Military Applications
Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
Congress of the United States
Dear Senator Jackson:
Dur ing General Starbiratsa appearance before the
Subcommittee on Militars Anplicctions of the Joint
Committee on January 23, 1956. 4 Gisecussion took place
relative to the testing ov live nuclear warheads in the
Ding Dong rocket and the Nike 3. As requested at the
hearing, the following elaboration of testimony is provided
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 necessary to follow a procedure whereby the
weapon is tested in various stages of development so as to
insure that it will operate peliably upon completion and he
capable of being stockpiled even without a@ true proof test
of the complete warhead-missile system,
The procedure
followed makes use of extensive laboratory tests and of
flight tests to achieve this reliability. °
Pre-production test programs can be divided into three
pheses.
In the first phase a laboratory nuclear device is
produced and fired to test experimentally the new design
principles incorporated, The resulting nuclear system
design is usually sufficiently close to the laboratory
device design to insure a reliably predicted behavior fox
the stockpile weapon.
In the second phase the non-nuclear
components developed for the stockpile version are tested
individually in the laboratory.
Here, by means of test cells,
cold-chambers, vibrators and other environment simulating
equipment,
the resistance and functioning
of these components
are examined under conditions ‘iore extreme than expected in
actual employment.
In the th’! phase all components are
assembled and tested as 2 con.slete system with the exception
that dummy nuclear material 223 usually dummy high
explosives are substituted for the live material. The arming,
RESTRICTED DATA
This document contains restricted data as
defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
Its transmittal or the disclosure of its
contents in any manner to an unauthorized
person is prohibited.
-lCATS AD 12 ao
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