CHAPTER I REDWING/HARDTACK INTERIM PERIOD PLANNING A. INTRODUCTION The first official announcement of plans for Operation HARDTACK was provided to Air Force Special Weapons Center on 10 June 1955, when Colonel H. F. Parsons of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project wrote that HARDIACK was scheduled for the spring of 1957 at an undetermined location, Approximately 10 shots were included in the planned series, + By the end of 1955, scheduling for the testing program had become more firm, for an 14 December 1955 Colonel Parsons stated that "present plans call for Operation PILGRIM at the Nevada Test Site in the Spring of 1957 and for Operation HARDTACK at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Spring of 1958." He stated, furthermore, that "no other informa- tion concerning the test is available and it is assumed that the support required of your command [that is, Special Weapons Center/ will be simi- lar to that required for TEAPOT and REDWING, "2 From December 1955 to February 1957 very little definitive infor- mationconcerning Operation HARDTACK was available. On 26 February 1957, however, the first version of the HARDTACK schedule accessible in the Special Weapons Center was announced. 3 The schedule reaffirmed that HARDTACK was planned "to be held in the Pacific in the Srring of 1958." SeWL/KO AFWL/ HO oT = )