The basic requirements were that the missile be able to carry the proposed
devices, the considerations of safety, the time it would take to get the
missile ready for launch, and the reliability of the system.
The Redstone
Coe
missile had been used for Hardtack and the launch site
Saks)
still available on fee
Johnston Itstand and the Army had several available missi les in Chicago
LLY)
O-
(| talked to Bill Carter a few days ago and he thinks shee stil | stored in
Chicago).
The Redstone also had the advantage from the safety point of view
that fired from Johnston Island,
any inhabited area.
its range was such that it could not reach
However, the experience of Hardtack was poor.
In that
case the Task Force had been assured that unless the missiles' went exactly
where they were programmed, the warheads could not go off.
both missiles did not perform properly.
point, but the warheads did detonate.
In actual fact
They missed their intended burst
The system was inertially guided, there
was no control from the ground and it did not appear feasible to put in
a command destruct for the warhead.
During this period of time, Don Schuster
of Sandia agreed to assist the scientific deputy of the task force by taking
By Adtrvede
operational
over the majoratechnical/considerations for the scientific deputy.
He then
joined Starbeard and Ogle in the debate on which missile system to use and
contributed greatty to the final decision.
Starboard, Schuster and Ogle all
felt very strongly that the system to be picked should have a command destruct
system for both missile and warhead and that the site should be set up in such
a manner that the appropriate data would be available to make such decisions.
The latter point meant that if possible it was preferable to have a missile
with sufficient range that the warhead could be lofted to very high altitude
and fall from that altitude to the desired detonation point, thus allowing
appreciable time to interpret tracking data to see that the warhege was going
to the right place and to make the appropriate considerations, ¥ would allow
destruct if necessary.
Having such range, however,
—
introduced the difficulty
af