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Nuclear weapons insanity: America’s AIR-2 Genie rocket

it was basically a suicide device. 

The craziest part about this? In the only live test during Operation Plumbob, the US Air Force put five guys directly under the blast to prove how “safe” it was to use over populated areas. P

And the US government made 3,000 Genies.

The Five Most Insane Nuclear Delivery Systems Jaolpnik MICHAEL BALLABAN, 14 July 13 

“…….Earlier this week we looked at the giantSoviet nuclear gun. That thing is definitely batty, what with its giant cannon at one end and what was essentially a tank at the other end turning it into a self-propelled howitzer. The Americans had a crazy nuke gun, too, and for awhile it looked like maybe we’d just stand and shoot atomic cannons at each other.

The thing is though, with both of those artillery pieces the actual physics package was intended to reach at least 15 miles away before the thing actually exploded. And even then, that was waytoo close.

What would happen, then, if you wanted it to explode even closer?

The AIR-2 Genie was a doomsday rocket of absolute desperation.

genie_missile_test

With the Cold War in its deepest freeze but without the benefit of long-range ICBMs, American military planners thought the only way New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago would be bombed would be in massive waves of Soviet bombers. Unfortunately, if 100 of them come at you at once, you may not shoot them all down. And really, only one getting through your defenses is necessary for absolute devastation.

In 1958, when the AIR-2 was introduced, the problem was compounded by the fact that missile guidance systems still weren’t quite up to snuff. Directly hitting all of the bombers coming at you was going to be a near-impossible task. The solution was to launch one, single, solitary missile. That missile, completely unguided, with a nuclear bomb on board, would cause a big enough explosion to hopefully wipe out all the attackers. With a big enough boom, you wouldn’t need a guidance system.

Oh, and the range was only six miles. In case you’re forgetting, most nukes make a bigger boom than that, so it was basically a suicide device.

The craziest part about this? In the only live test during Operation Plumbob, the US Air Force put five guys directly under the blast to prove how “safe” it was to use over populated areas. P

And the US government made 3,000 Genies……..  http://jalopnik.com/the-five-most-insane-nuclear-delivery-systems-768180979

July 15, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | history, Reference, USA, weapons and war