The Pacific Proving Ground known as the PPG, consists
of ENIWETOK and BIKINI Atolls located in the Marshall Islands
some 530 miles south of Wake Island.
These atolls are occupied
the year-around by representatives of the Atomic Energy Commission and by. certain small military crganizations,
one of
which is an Air Force unit of 20 officers and 240 men belonging
to the Special Weapons Center at Kirtland, AFB.
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REDWING is a most ambitious program.
of tes® series REDWING and DIXIE,
It is a comb#nation
DIXIE was originally planned
for tem Nevada Test Site, but it was cesided to combine DIXIE
and REDWING and hold them both in the PPG.
This decision has
“resulted in a’ program of 15 and possibly 19 shots devending on
the results of the first few.
The net result, is that we shall
fire about three times as many atomic weapons and devices as
have ever been fired before during any test in the PPG, and
also conduct something on the order of 43 weapons effects tests,
and all diagnostic measurements for Los Alamos, UCRL, and Sandia
Corporation,
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To orient you as to our current organization and relationships within the DOD and AEC, we have prepared this chart.
Headquarters
Our
(point) is located between operations in Washington
and 1¢ consists of a typical joint staff with about equal representation of Army, Navy and Air Force Personnel.
For example,
the Naval Deputy and Chief of Staff are Rear Admirals, the Army
Deputy is a Major General and I am the Deputy for Air.
The
Operational strength of the staff consists of 167 personnel, of
which 52 are Air Force, 52 Army and 63Navy.
These task groups (indicate) perform the following functions:
Task Group 7.5 is the construction and maintenance task group.
the atomic devices and makes
atin,
No
Task Group 7.1 assembles and fires