The GAM-63 RASCAL is a supersonic Air-to-surface missile that was developed by the Bell Aircraft Company. The RASCAL was the United States Air Force’s first nuclear armed standoff missile. The RASCAL was initially designated the ASM-A-2, then re-designated the B-63 in 1951 and finally re-designated the GAM-63 in 1955.

The name RASCAL was the acronym for RAdar SCAnning Link, the missile’s guidance system. The RASCAL project was cancelled in September 1958.

Document Archive

Historical Study on Aircraft and Weapon Systems Tested at the Air Force Missile Development Center  [359 Pages, 84.2MB]

GAM-63 Missile Development Program [39 Pages, 11.22MB]

HQ USAF Logistics Concept, GAM-63 Weapon System [20 Pages, 600kb]

The History of the RASCAL Missile, 1952-1958 [158 pages, 58MB]

Missile Logistics, Volume 1: Text (Historical Study No. 328). 1952-1958 [115 pages, 5.7mb]

Project RASCAL / Project Shrike, 31 March 1953 [88 Pages, 14.5MB]

R&D Information Report, Missile Logistics, 1951-1959 [18 Pages, 1.71MB]

RASCAL (Project MX-776), September 30, 1968 [76 Pages, 12.49MB]

RASCAL (MX-776B) [130 Pages, 51MB]

RASCAL: Air to Ground Guided Missile [94 Pages, 35.45MB]

RASCAL Weapon System (Project MX-776) [80 Pages, 11.65MB]

RASCAL Weekly Test Reports [220 Pages, 44.15MB]

System 112A

System 112A – Rascal Missile System, 1 May 1959 [96 Pages, 36MB]

System 112A – Flight Test Summary – 1 July 1958 [63 Pages, 13.3MB]

System 112A – Quarterly Progress Report, 31 March 1957 [80 Pages, 41MB]

System 112A – Quarterly Progress Report, 30 June 1957 [70 Pages, 10.5MB]

The post The GAM-63 RASCAL Missile first appeared on The Black Vault.

This document was first released in 2003, though heavily redacted. In February of 2018, I requested a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) of the record, in hopes it would be further declassified. It was not, in fact, the redactions were nearly identical, with the exception that one of the document’s footers had less redacted, but does not add anything new.

Both records are archived below for reference… the latest release, from 2018, is listed first.

Document Archive

 2018 Release: China: The Galaxy-II Computer and Nuclear-Related Research, August 3, 1994 [12 Pages, 1.5MB]

https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/cia/chinagalaxy-ii.pdf

 2003 Release: China: The Galaxy-II Computer and Nuclear-Related Research, August 3, 1994 [11 Pages, 0.6MB]

https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/cia/DOC_0000996365.pdf

The post China: The Galaxy-II Computer and Nuclear-Related Research, August 3, 1994 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Originally, this document was fully denied under FOIA Exemption (b)(1), in June of 2016.

I appealed, based on the reality that the record was nearly 50 years old (at the time of requesting) and it seemed pretty unbelievable that not a single page was releasable.

My appeal was partially granted, and 14 out of the 241 pages were released.

According to the document:

“The purpose of the work undertaken was to provide an improved means of disseminating dry biological agents from high-performance aircraft. “

Declassified Document

 Improved Dry Biological Disseminator, June 1967 [15 Pages, 1.1MB]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/usaf/AFATL-TR-67-61.pdf

The post Improved Dry Biological Disseminator, June 1967 first appeared on The Black Vault.

This Final Report was prepared by Ion Physics Corporation under Air Force Contract AF08(635)-2795, “Directed Energy Weapons Test Facility”. The work was administered under the direction of Weapons Laboratory (ASQWR) Detachment 4, ASD.

The studies began on May 1, 1962 and ended on December 31, 1962.

Dr. A. S. Denholm was overall program manager with R. Britton acting as project engineer on that part of the studies concerned with the ultra high voltage facilities for the study of vacuum insulation, the studies required many talents.

This report concludes work under the contract and is the only report. It was classified SECRET (though redactions remain after it was released) because of the data it contains related to directed energy weapons technology.

Document Archive

 Directed Energy Weapons Test Facility, August 1963 [199 Pages, 9.2MB]

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The post Directed Energy Weapons Test Facility, August 1963 first appeared on The Black Vault.

The following document was requested in June of 1999, and took approximately 8 years to obtain.

It was listed in a DTIC bibliography, with no report title, and no information.  So, intrigued, I requested the report number, and this is what came up.

What is interesting, is that the document, now more than 45 years old, is still heavily classified.

Document Archive

Weapons Classification Guide [63 Pages, 3.64MB]

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The post Weapons Classification Guide – April 5, 1960 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Further Comments on the Feasibility of Airlaunched Anti-Satellite Weapon Systems [15 Pages, 2.23mb]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/weapons/ad311800.pdf

The post Anti-Satellite Weapons first appeared on The Black Vault.

In 1951 the US Army Chemical Corps and Ordnance Corps initiated a joint program to develop a 115mm chemical rocket. The US Army Ordnance Corps designed the 115mm T238 and launcher in 1957 to provide the army a means to attack large area targets with chemical agents.

Artillery and mortars are for small area targets; and due to different spin stabilities weapons intended for explosives are not ideal for chemical delivery. The 115mm rocket was subsequently accepted as the M55 rocket with M91 launcher.

Produced from 1959–1965, the M55s were manufactured at Newport Army Ammunition Plant and tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

The Army produced unitary warheads filled with Sarin (GB) and VX nerve agents for the M55.

Declassified Documents

A Evaluation of the Duration of Fly Through Obtained When Tracking with the Speed Ring Sight on the M-55 Weapon [27 Pages, 5.5MB]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/weapons/ADB951717.pdf

The post M55 rocket first appeared on The Black Vault.

The term electromagnetic pulse (sometimes abbreviated EMP) is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that results from an explosion (usually from the detonation of a nuclear weapon) and/or a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field. The resulting rapidly changing electric fields or magnetic fields may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges.

In military terminology, a nuclear bomb detonated hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface is known as a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) device. Nuclear electromagnetic pulse has three distinct time components that result from different physical phenomena. Effects of a HEMP device depend on a very large number of factors, including the altitude of the detonation, energy yield, gamma ray output, interactions with the Earth’s magnetic field, and electromagnetic shielding of targets.

Document Archive

Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack: Critical National Infrastructures [208 Pages, 7 MB]  – This report presents the Commission’s assessment of the effects of a high altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on our critical national infrastructures. An earlier report, Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), Volume 1: Executive Report (2004), provided an overview. When a nuclear explosion occurs at high altitude, the EMP signal it produces will cover a wide geographic region within the line of sight of the detonation. Because of the dependence of U.S. society on the electrical power system, its vulnerability to an EMP attack, coupled with the EMP’s particular damage mechanisms, creates the possibility of long-term, catastrophic consequences. The consequences of an EMP event should be prepared for and protected against to the extent reasonably possible. Cold War-style deterrence is not likely to be an effective threat against potential protagonists that are either failing states or trans-national groups. Therefore, making preparations to manage the effects of an EMP attack is critical to reducing the consequences, and thus probability, of attack. The appropriate national-level approach should balance prevention, protection, and recovery. This volume focuses on a description of the potential vulnerabilities of our critical national infrastructures; the chapters in this document deal individually with the EMP threat to each critical infrastructure separately. It is also important to understand that not only mutual interdependence may be enabled by technology advances, but also technologies that have facilitated this growing interdependence may be common across the many individual infrastructures. In particular, the Commission thought it important to single out the growth and common infrastructural infiltration of one particular transformative technology, the development of automated monitoring and control systems known as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.

The post Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons first appeared on The Black Vault.

Hopi was an air-to-surface missile developed by the United States Navy’s Naval Ordnance Test Station. Intended to provide a medium-range nuclear capability for carrier aircraft, the missile reached the flight test stage during 1958, but the project was cancelled following testing and no production was undertaken.

Developed by the Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) at China Lake, California during the mid-to-late 1950s, the Hopi missile was an improved development of the earlier BOAR (Bombardment Aircraft Rocket). BOAR had been developed at China Lake as an unguided, nuclear-armed rocket for use by carrier-based aircraft, seeing limited service in the fleet between 1957 and 1963.

In its essentials simply an enlarged version of BOAR, which it was intended to replace in service, Hopi was designed as a medium-range weapon capable of being carried by a wide variety of carrier-based fighter and attack aircraft. The rocket-powered missile was capable of being fitted with a W50 nuclear warhead capable of producing a yield between 60 and 400 kilotons; however, no details of the planned guidance system for the missile, or if there even was intended to be guidance at all, have survived.  (Source: Wikipedia)

 Declassified Documents

 STATIC STABILITY AND DRAG OF THE HOPI WEAPON [77 Pages, 2.41MB]

The post The Hopi Missile first appeared on The Black Vault.

A “dull sword” is an Air Force reporting term that marks reports of minor incidents involving nuclear weapons, components or systems, or which could impair their deployment. This could include actions involving vehicles capable of carrying nuclear weapons but with no nuclear weapons on board at the time of the accident.

Declassified Documents

 DoD Instruction 7730.12, “Notification Procedures for Accidents and Significant Incidents Involving Nuclear Weapons, Reactors and Radioactive Materials” [7 Pages, 1.16mb]

 Dull Sword Incidents, 1981, 320th Bombardment Wing History [8 Pages, 308kb]

 Reporting Nuclear Safety Deficiencies (Dull Swords) on the F-16 Aircraft [101 Pages, 12.55mb]

The post Dull Sword Incidents first appeared on The Black Vault.

A device containing 50 tons of TNT was detonated to partially simulate a ten kiloton air burst in the Iron Range jungle of the Cape York Peninsula. The explosives were sourced from obsolete artillery shells and placed in a tower 42 metres above ground level and 21 metres above the rain forest canopy. After the explosion, troops were moved through the area (which was now covered in up to a metre of leaf litter), to test their ability to transit across the debris. In addition, obsolete vehicles and equipment left near the centre of the explosion were destroyed.

The explosion was intended by the Robert Menzies government to test and examine the feasibility of air burst nuclear weapons for clearing forests and the use of mangled forests to slow troop movement in South East Asia, primarily Indonesia and Malaysia in the escalation of the time against Sukarno and the Konfrontasi Malay Emergency. There was also a view to use such techniques in the later Myanmar conflict and Vietnam War, which were simmering at the time.

United States participation included the establishment of pressure measurement equipment and the loan of photographic and instrumentation equipment.

The following are documents related to, or mentioning, Operation Blowdown:

OPERATION BLOWDOWN [200 Pages, 18.66 MB] – This report on Operation BLOWDOWN describes an Australian field test in which a 50-ton HE charge was detonated over a typical rain forest at the Iron Range Test Site, North Queensland, Australia. U. S. participation included the establishment of a blast line to obtain overpressure and dynamic pressure measurements, as well as the loan of instrumentation and photographic equipment. The experiment also included military trial projects which examined the blast effects in forests on items of military material, field fortifications, supply points, and foot and vehicle movement. This report presents preliminary results in each area of the experiment. (Author)

The post Operation Blowdown first appeared on The Black Vault.

On 4 January 1955 the USAF issued Systems Requirement SR-12 for the Weapons System WS-118P high-speed reconnaissance vehicle.

Range was to be over 5000 km, altitude over 30 km. Bell provided a proposal on 1 December 1955, calling for a three-phase program using a glider designed to be boosted by a two-stage rocket to Mach 15 at 50 km altitude (Phase I would produce an 8,000 km range vehicle; Phase II a 16,000 km range vehicle; and Phase III an orbital vehicle).

Below are some of the documents released on this program.

Declassified Documents

Aircraft Configuration Survey for Weapon System 118P [62 Pages, 2.33mb]

Phase 3 Preliminary Development Plan [12 Pages, 1.17mb]

Reconnaissance System 118P Phase 3 [114 Pages, 5.29mb]

Standard Aircraft Characteristics, Phase 2 1/2, Weapon System 118P HIGH-ALTITUDE RECONNAISSANCE [20 Pages, 701k]

The post Weapon System 118P first appeared on The Black Vault.