Artillery. In the years preceding 1940, field artillery development centered chiefly on four types: the 75mm pack howitzer, the 37mm antitank gun, and the 105mm and 240mm howitzers. A standardized weapon system finally evolved and the approved weapons were produced in great numbers. The period was marked by an increase in the proportion of medium and heavy to light artillery, and by greater ranges for all types. Firepower was also increased many-fold by improved mortars, mounted antitank guns and other self-propelled artillery, recoilless weapons of 57mm, 75mm and 105mm caliber, and rockets and launchers of various calibers.

Ammunition. No lesson of World War

I was plainer to the Army than its need of modern ordnance, and the most complicated development task confronting the Ordnance Department at the end of the war was in the field of ammunition. Combat experience had shown the inadequacies of much of that used in 1917-1918-inaccuracies, failures, lack of safety features, and a host of needless complexities. The increased range, accuracy, and killingpower needed in artillery ammunition required a complete series of shells designed to produce the most effective fragmentation, striking velocities, penetration, and so on. A very significant achievement was a system of fuses which were interchangeable among practically all artillery projectiles.

When a uranium bomb was exploded over Hiroshima in the last days of World War II, a new era in warfare had begun. In the ensuing years it rapidly became evident that future weapons and tactics, even those employed in small-scale and limited fighting, would differ radically from anything known in the past. The early fission-type atomic weapons-which even at the beginning were powerful enough to wipe out a moderate-sized city-were improved SO that their power, or "yield," was multiplied many times. They were followed by the fusion type or "hydrogen" bomb, whose power is measured in millions of tons of ordinary high explosive. Concurrently came the astonishing development of largesize long-range rockets and guided missiles. These devices in combination form the pattern of one field of contemporary ordnance development; projectile that can be directed, at extremely high speed, against a target anywhere from scores to thousands of miles away, and that can carry an appallingly destructive warhead, the exact power of which can be scaled to the nature of the target.

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CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS. Nuclear explosives have by no means rendered obsolete the so-called "conventional" weapons. Active research

and development in this field are principally directed to increased firepower and greater mobility, with special emphasis on transportability of weapons, vehicles, etc., by air. Much work has been done in the fields of self-propelled weapons to give better artillery support in fast-moving warfare; on the use of radar in fire-control devices for antiaircraft weapons; and on proximity fuses, shaped charge projectiles, and so on. Standardization, interchangeability, and ease of manufacture and maintenance are also being stressed. (See also chapter 18.)

ROCKETS AND GUIDED MISSILES. After years of inactivity, interest in rockets was reawakened during the closing days of World War I when Dr. Robert H. Goddard, of Clark University, undertook on a personal basis the development of high altitude rockets. By 1920 the United States had become first to demonstrate the basic principles later applied to missile development. Based largely on Dr. Goddard's work, Germany began to experiment in this field; and it was Germany who unveiled a new set of possibilities in weapons development when, on 6 September 1944, she launched the first V-2 rocket.

Meantime, in early 1944, our Ordnance Corps had started a development

program for a rocket to meet the following specifications: minimum pay load of high explosive, 1,000 lbs.; range, 75 to 100 miles; dispersion at maximum range not to exceed 2%, or alternatively the missile to be subject to remote control; and enough velocity to afford protection from fighter aircraft. Contracts were let on this basis. Included among them were several surface-to-surface missiles, (Private A, Private F, WAC Corporal, and Bumper) which were essentially research vehicles used to test various aspects of missile design, operation, and instrumentation. Bumper established a record with a flight of 250 miles altitude.

When the Allied armies landed in Europe, Army Ordnance agencies captured V-2 components. They were shipped to the United States and assembled, and missiles into which they were incorporated were tested during the period 1946-50. This and its other programs put the Ordnance Corps into full-scale missile development.

Since 1950 the Army's major research and development effort has been in the field of rockets and guided missiles. This new form of firepower falls into two categories, both of which are extensions of older forms. The first is the augmentation of artillery fire by surface-to-surface missiles, either free rockets or guided. The second is the replacement of conventional antiaircraft guns by surface-to-air or antiair guided missiles, designed to destroy manned enemy aircraft; these to be improved, as soon as possible, to the point where they can destroy enemy guided missiles -the so-called "antimissile missile."

Surface-to-surface missiles, destined to be the artillery of the future, enable the Army to extend radically its familiar artillery techniques against surface targets. With respect to antiair firepower, the Army has been charged, since the airplane first made its appearance as an instrument of war, with the antiaircraft defense of the continental United States and of oversea troops and installations. (See chapter 3.)

The following Army missiles have been or are being developed

Surface-to-Surface Missiles. These include two free rockets (Honest John

and Little John) and a number of guided missiles.

Honest John is a surface-to-surface free rocket. It is a large caliber, simple, reliable, all-weather weapon with a nuclear or nonnuclear capability and 15mile range. It provides a basic firepower element for Army divisions and missile commands. It is air transportable in conventional military transports and is soon to have lightweight launching equipment capable of being transported by helicopter. Although Honest John has been operational for some time, it has been greatly improved to enhance mobility and air-transportability.

Little John is being developed to supplement Honest John. A surface-tosurface rocket, its dimensions are about one third and its weight one sixth that of its predecessor. It can be carried by helicopter. It is not yet in production.

Corporal was the free world's first operational surface-to-surface ballistic guided missile. It can deliver atomic firepower on targets at ranges up to 100 miles. Together with Honest John and the 280mm gun, Corporal was shipped to Germany to provide atomic capability for the Seventh Army (our NATO commitment in that country).

Sergeant, one of the newer R&D projects, is the latest addition to the Army's tactical missile arsenal, and is to be a Corporal replacement. This ballistic surface-to-surface guided missile, with ranges up to 75 or more miles, will be invulnerable to electronic countermeasures and may be used regardless of weather, visibility, or terrain. Carrying nuclear or nonnuclear warheads, it will travel at several times the speed of sound. It will have generally the same range capabilities as its predecessor, but will be simpler in operation and handling.

Lacrosse is an all-weather, highly accurate, surface-to-surface guided missile. It will be equally useful as a general support weapon in close support of ground operations, and in the destruction of small hard targets such as enemy strong points or bunkers. Its launcher and guidance equipment are truck-mounted, providing great ground mobility for close combat support. It can also be airborne. It is in production. Dart, now under development, is a

surface-to-surface guided missile designed to smash the largest tank known. It can be mounted on an armored personnel carrier, giving it fast, easy mobility. Its range exceeds the effective range of any known tank armament. Its flight velocity and low trajectory make the chances of shooting it down negligible.

Redstone is one of the largest and most potent of the operational or nearoperational U. S. surface-to-surface missiles. It has a range of 175 nautical miles, and is designed for rough handling and typical field service transportation and environment. It will deliver a nuclear warhead at hypersonic speed. This medium-range ballistic missile is considered the prototype for the Jupiter IRBM (intermediate range ballistic missile.) It is in production, has been troop-tested, and became operational overseas in June 1958.

Jupiter, a continuation of the Redstone program developed for the accurate delivery of a nuclear warhead at hypersonic speed on a target about 1,500 nautical miles away, today is a distinct reality. It is air-transportable and highly mobile in the field. It is expected to be operational overseas in December 1958. It was a Jupiter which fired the full-scale heat-protected reentry nose cone which was recovered in the spring of 1958; and it was a modified Redstone called Jupiter C which launched Explorer I, the free world's first earth satellite. (See also chapter 18.)

The Army's newest surface-to-surface missile is called Pershing. It is now in the developmental stage. Pershing will use solid propellant. It is designed to carry a nuclear payload, but will be smaller, faster, and easier to handle in the field than Redstone.

Surface-to-Air Missiles. These are all guided missiles. They include the Nike family, Plato, and Hawk.

Nike-Ajax was the first of the Nike missiles. In its deliberate evolution of the Nike family, Army R & D has utilized Ajax to provide a surface-to-air defense system for our key cities and industrial centers over a period of several years, while the development of more advanced types was under way.

Nike-Hercules, a surface-to-air mis

sile now in development and production, is the second member of the Nike defense family. It is a preplanned supplement to Ajax with greatly increased range, power, altitude, speed, maneuverability, and accuracy. While Ajax can destroy any known fast high altitude aircraft and several known guided missiles, Hercules, which has an atomic capability, can destroy whole formations of attacking aircraft. The Army believes that this missile has put our air defenses markedly ahead of potential enemy aircraft development.

The Army's surface-to-air defense against the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is being made possible by an antimissile missile named Zeus. Components of Zeus are now in being, and the complete system is under development. Another Army approach to the antimissile missile is Plato. This weapon can be used to defend our land forces wherever they fight.

Hawk, the Army's low altitude killer now in final development, was designed as a highly mobile surface-to-air missile system for use with the Army in the field. Primary consideration was given to the very low altitude problem. The Hawk system, with its unique guidance scheme, has greater capabilities in this area than any other air defense system. Hawk will be employed with fast moving Army troops, by the Marine Corps, and for use in the United States. It can be installed in permanent or semipermanent type installations, thus thickening our defenses and increasing the low altitude effectiveness of the defense system.

ATOMIC WEAPONS. The Ordnance Corps entered the atomic weapons field in 1953 as a result of agreements between the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission, which gave the Department of the Army responsibility for the development and manufacture of nonnuclear parts of atomic artillery shells and adaption kits for Army missile and rocket atomic warheads and atomic demolition munitions.

The first atomic weapon that reached the field was the Mk9 or M354 shell for the 280mm gun. Since then, an atomic capability has been achieved

with the 8-inch artillery shell (T317 series) and for the Corporal and Redstone surface-to-surface guided missiles, the Honest John and Little John surface-to-surface rockets, and the NikeHercules and the Nike Zeus, surface-toair guided missiles. Nuclear warheads are being incorporated in several other weapon systems, but the subject is classified for the present.

The following lines of development are being pursued in this field

Types of Warhead. Nuclear technology has advanced from the early gun-type warheads to the more efficient implosion and thermonuclear types. In this field the Ordnance Corps is seeking, not only to produce a modern and effective warhead, but to conserve the national stockpile of nuclear materials. The development of warhead "families" (adaptations of a single design to various yields) has been useful to both these ends.

Range of Sizes. The Army's arsenal will soon contain atomic weapons with yields ranging from a fraction of a kiloton to several megatons; each having its specified uses.

Variety of Carriers. What is sought here is a variety of atomic carriers to provide tactical flexibility to meet surface-to-surface, surface-to-air, and demolition missions. Guided missiles, ballistic rockets, artillery shells, and demolition munitions are types now available or under development. Further,

where possible, a single warhead is used in each of several carrier systems.

Safety and Reliability. These are vital criteria in the development of Ordnance adaption kits and artillery shells. No effort is being spared to give the greatest practicable assurance against accidental detonation. Accuracy and reliability of the fusing system are also of the utmost importance, not only to increase the efficiency and surprise effect of the weapon against an enemy but also because a precise control of the height above ground at which the atomic burst occurs is needed to prevent the undesired "fallout" of lethal radioactive material.

Consideration is being given to incorporating so-called "clean" weapons, designed to minimize this fallout problem, into the Army's weapons system.

Trends of Development. One present trend is toward small, light-weight, rugged atomic warheads, which fit in with the present Army doctrine of greater mobility and firepower. This points up the need to eliminate all or most of the complex tests and settings required in the early atomic weapons. New designs will make still more efficient use of nuclear materials. There will be increased emphasis on low-yield warheads with highly accurate delivery and fusing devices; such weapons will have rapid response times, and can be used as support fires extremely close to the troops being supported.