uilLtsstFtr0 BY At/l|0tl tA[ t.0, 13520 DATE, JI+d167DZt? TPPROVEO FOR P|JBL II REI.EA$E THE AIR FORCE AND THT NATIONAL GUIDED MISSILE PNOffi 1944-1950 (u) By Max Roeenberg June L964 , . USAI' Hietorical Divieion Liaiaon Office sno-c-54/38 If-hen this study is no ronger need.ed, please return it to the usAF Historical Division Liaison office, Headquar;; uiar. SECURITY NOTICE Classification This document ig claseified CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with paragraph Z-5, AFR 205-1. @ This document contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States, within the rneaning of the Espion- age Laws (Title 18, U. S. C.,. sections 793 and 7941, the trans- mission or revelation of which in any Inanner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law. Individual portions of the docurnent may be reproduced to satisfy official needs of agencies within the United States Air Force, but the document may not be reproduced in ite entirety without permission of the office of origin. Release of portions or the whole of the docurnent to agencies outside the United States Air Force is forbidden without permission of the office of origin. EXCLUDED FROM AUTOMATIC DOWNGRADING : DOD Dir 5200. tO DOES NOT APPLY **x: tG,) 1'\ \r1 ,83,, , \\* \ \:'c *--: x\/r.ut- hw rr"*^^ ra #s_:'=:_ FOREWORD This historical monograph was originally planned as part of a multi-volume hietory of the USAF guided miesile program. However, Personnel, organizatlonaL, and program realignments within the USAr Historical Division Liaison Office (AFCHO) forced abandonment of these plans. Consequently, the ecope of the study ie not that initially contern: plated but its content seemed of eufficient intereet to warrant publication. The monograph covere generally the eo-called national guided mieeile Program that slowly evolved between the cloeing months of World lffar II and the beginning of the Korean'War. More particularly, the rnono- graph treats the interplay among the numerous national security agen- ciee as it concerned guided miseilee. The guided miesile wae among the first weapon systems to be subjected to the dieadvantagee as well as the advantages of constant scrutiny and interventiion at the inter- gervice level. Moreover, thie condition was aggravated no little by the interest, but not the forceful leadership, of a number of joint and other national security agencies a niche or more above the level of the services. In a sense, then, the guided missile became the t'guinea pig" from which grew the paradoxical situation of both a centralization and proliferation of authority and responsibility over weapon developrrrent and use. Otly in recent years has this peculiar set of circumgt.rnceg been altered under the persigtent pressure of etrong centralizatiiin'in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. For these reasons, the rpcord of service actions and counteractions from the early guided mieeile years may well serve aa a worthwhile addition to r'lessong learnedt' documentation. Liaison Office CONTENTS I. Introduction.............. e.. ........ c.... n. 1 Definition of a Guided Missileoc..e .......oce .cc. Z Evolution of the Guided Missile....e o..oe .o...o.. 4 AAF Guided Missiles Before and During World 'l{ar II . c . c . c . c . o c . o o . 7 u. The Service Gontest for Missile Responsibilities o o r oc l4 Emergence of the Intraservice Missile Controversy . e... o.... o ! e e e... c. o.. e c...... .. 17 The McNarney Directive ...o eo... c....c........ zr The AAF Drive to Revise the McNarney Directive . , . c o . e . c . c . 23 Continued Dissatisfaction With the McNarney Directive. .. o.. .... .... c . ... .. .. .. 28 Re-examination of the McNarney Directiv€. 3l Recigion of the McNarney Directiv€.o...... ..... 36 AAF Assumption of Development Management .... 38 Operational Responsibility Unresolved. .., . .. 40 The AAF-Navy Mieeile Rivalry ..... o r r r i....... 45 ru. The National Guided Miseile Program . .... ... 54 Geneeis of the National Program... ............ 54 Policies For A National Prograrn ... !........... 57 The National Program and Development Responsibilitieg . 50 Establishment of JRDB's Committee on Guidgd Missilgg.......o....r............ .... 6Z National Program Review by GMC .............. 65 The National Program: Fact or Fictiorl . .. ... .. 67 IV AAF Postwar Guided Missile program. o. .. .. 69 Planning the AAF Postwar Program ............ 69 Inauspicious Start on Postwar Developrnent Program . .... .. ..... ... .. o. .. o... 72 Black Christmae of 1946............c........... Z? Dim Prospects for Fiscal Year 1948.. .. .. .. r.. BO Establishment of Missile Priorities ............ o 84 The Magtiff Fiasco. .. ... .. .. .. ... .. ..... 85 V. The First 18 Months of Unification . .. .. ..... " " ' 96 Redefining Service Miagions and Roles . .. .. " ' 96 Missile Development Responsibility......... "' 98 Migsile Operational Reaponsibility. ......... "' 103 GMC andthe National Miseile Program.."'''" 107 The Air Force Miesile Program , 194? -L949 ' ' ' ' ' 1l'3 vI. Tbe JOhngOn Efa.................. o " " t " " " ' ' LZO JCS Effortg to Resolve Operational I23 Responaibilitieg' ' '' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '' ' ' ' ' ' ' '' RDB-GMC Efforts to Resolve Development L3Z Responsibilitieg. '. ' ' '' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '' ' DOD Miseile Program Review......o......."' 135 Review of Missile Priority Ratings" " " " "'" ' rsz Policies and Plans for Atomic-Equipped Migsiles.........tt'''""'tt'''""'""" f58 Planning for Miesile Production. ..... ... ... .. 167 L?Z NOTES . .. ... ... .' . t " " t "'' "' t''''' " " " GLOSSARY .........'!..t'o"""o"""..""t 198 .:|{'"iiJ$r 9ffi;l",.' I. INTRODUCTION 'rModern science has utterly changed the nature of war and is still changing it,rr wrote Dr. Vannevar Bush, famed adviser on military research and development, in his 1949 treatise, Modern Arrns aql B Man. In the years since these words were written, science has given warfare yet another new and fantastic dirnension of destruction: guided missiles equipped with nuclear warheads capable of striking targets thousands of miles away. Since the industrial revolution, rnodern gcientific discoveries have had an increasingly irnportant impact on hurnan conflicts. The first World $rar wrought nurrrerous scientific advances. World War II greatly accelerated thern and helped rnechanize warfare to a level previously unknown. Radar, jet-propelled aircraft, guided rnissiles, proximity fuzes, and atorn bornbs were only a few of the new, spectacular products that played significant roles in the prosecution of the war. The guided rnissile, Iike other instrurnents of war developed during rfforld War II and subsequently refined, was stark evidence of rnanrs relentless guest for irnproved weapons of destruction. Since first he threw stones at his adversaries, rnan had recognized the ad- vantages of a rnissile-type weapon over hand-to-hand cornbat. In haphazard fashion he progressed from the use of the spear, sling, bow, catapult, and gun to the shell and bornb, always atternpting to irnprove the speed, range, accuracy, and destructiveness of his rtrnissiles.rl z Their effectiveness, however, reft'H'rff[-_ to be desired; once re- leased, a missile'was subject to atmospheric elements, the miscalcu- lations of its hurler, or the movements of its intended victim. With the advent of reaction propulsion and practical developments in the electromagnetic radiation and atomic energy fieldg, man at last pos' seeeed the means of overcoming these conditions. The era of guided miseiles was at hand. Definition of a Guided Misgile There are aeveral definitions for the terms rlmigsiletr and "guided misgile. " The etandard dictionary defines a missile as a weaPon or object (spear, arrow' bullet, self-propelled rocket, on robot bomb) capable of being thrown, hurled, or projected to strike a distant object. It defines a guided mieeile more specifically as any miesile whose course toward a target may be altered during passage by means of a eelf-contained mechaniem controlled by radio signal, a built-in target-eeeking radar' or other devicee. In a broader definition, the dictionary also includes missiles with preset controls, euch as the German V-l and Y-2 or even * underwater torpedoe s. The deflnition eettled upon by the military services in 1945 in- cluded any weapon intended to be projected, propelled, or flown to etrike an object at a dietance, the trajectory of which could be con- trolled by other than natural laws once it was fired. The Department *The USAF Dictionary accepts this broader description. of Defeneerg Regearch and Development Board (RDB)' changed this in L948, limiting the designation to unmanned vehiclee moving above the earthrs surface whoee flight path could be altered by a mechanism within the vehicle. The United States Air Force (USAF) still officially accepts the last definition. Because of these variations in definition, application of the "guided missilert label to certain weapons has led to confusion and dis- agreement. Under the strictest interpretation, for example, none of the missiles employed operationally during World War II were really t'guided" missiles since they faiLed to meet all criteria. A leading scientist, Dr. Clark B. Millikan, characterized the German V-l and V-2 with their preset controls as no more than "crude precurs,ors. rr lirorld War l[ guided glide and vertical bombs often fell within the "Pt.- cursort' category aleo, since they lacked a mode of self-propulsion. Some observers contend that, since the guidance system receives and acts on information