Nuclear Hardness and Base Escape

Abstract

In the event of a surprise nuclear attack, the survivability of the manned bombers depends upon their base escape capability, i.e. the ability of their alert crews, upon short notification, to react, start engines, taxi, takeoff, and reach safety prior to the detonation of the first nuclear weapon on or near their base. Significant factors of successful base escape are discussed. It is argued that nuclear hardness and rapid engine start capabilities are essential and that they should be incorporated early in full scale development. It also argued that altitude dependence can be minimized or eliminated if the dynamic pressure is selected as the nuclear blast hardness criterion.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 31, 1981
Accession Number
ADA099405

Entities

People

  • Rayford P. Patrick

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter WMD
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Facilities
  • Altitude
  • Blast Waves
  • Detonations
  • Dynamic Pressure
  • Engineering
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Hardness
  • High Pressure
  • Mach Number
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Overpressure
  • Reynolds Number
  • Sea Level
  • Survivability
  • Weapons
  • Weapons Effects

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Critical Infrastructure Protection in CBRN and WMD Threats.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies