Background 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]
Author: John Greenewald
Nuclear Weapons Surety is the materiel, personnel, and procedures that contribute to the safety, security, reliability, and control of nuclear weapons, thus assuring no nuclear accidents, incidents, unauthorized use, or degradation in performance. Below are the recently declassified reports to the President regarding Nuclear Weapons Surety. Nuclear Weapons Surety Report, Annual Report to the President, 1985 [36 Pages, 16mb] Nuclear Weapons Surety Report, Annual Report to the President, 1986 [42 Pages, 21mb] Nuclear Weapons Surety Report, Annual Report to the President, 1987 [46 Pages, 21mb] Nuclear Weapons Surety Report, Annual Report to the President, 1988 [72 Pages, 2.72mb] Nuclear Weapons Surety Report, Annual Report to the President, 1989 [46 Pages,…
Operation Blowdown was a military operation that took place on 18 July 1963. Conducted in northern Queensland, Australia by a joint Australian-American-British team, it was designed to simulate the effects of a nuclear weapon on tropical rainforest, using 50 tons of conventional explosive (TNT). 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,…
Background Project A119, also known as “A Study of Lunar Research Flights”, was a top-secret plan developed in 1958 by the United States Air Force. The aim of the project was to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon which would help in answering some of the mysteries in planetary astronomy and astrogeology, and had the explosive device not entered into a lunar crater, the flash of explosive light would have been faintly visible to people on earth with their naked eye, a show of force resulting in a possible boosting of domestic morale in the capabilities of the United…
Operation Redwing was a United States series of 17 nuclear test detonations from May to July 1956. They were conducted at Bikini and Enewetak atolls. The entire operation followed Operation Wigwam and preceded Operation Plumbbob. The primary intention was to test new, second-generation thermonuclear devices. Also tested were fission devices intended to be used as primaries for thermonuclear weapons, and small tactical weapons for air defense. Redwing is notable for having demonstrated the first US airdrop of a deliverable hydrogen bomb – test “Cherokee”. Because the yields for many tests at Operation Castle in 1954 were dramatically higher than predictions,…