Operation REDWING-Project 6.4. Airborne Antennas and Phototubes for Determination of Nuclear-Weapon Yield
Abstract
Airborne equipment was designed for determining the location and yield of a nuclear detonation. This equipment determines yield from a measurement of the interval between the time of the burst and the time of the second peak in the thermal radiation intensity curve. Flush-mounted ferrite-core magnetic loop antennas for use in detecting the electromagnetic signal and thus fixing the time of the burst, performed successfully during Operation Redwing. Two kinds of photocubes for detecting the second thermal peak were tested and were found about equally satisfactory. The method selected for yield determination gave results accurate + or - 16% for five shots. Detailed study of the data showed that the electromagnetic signal, consisting of a direct pulse followed by a series of ionosphere-reflected sky waces, could be used in many waves to give information concerning the detonation and the ionsphere. From the time intervals between the ground wave and sky waves it was foun possible to compute both the distance between and receiver and the height of the reflecting ionosphere layer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA995297
Entities
People
- Alan J. Waters
- Roger E. Clapp