This exhibit traces the events leading up to the U.S. Readiness

Program and highlights Sandia’s role in the effort to keep the

U.S. prepared to advance nuclear research and testing.

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Genesis of the Readiness Program

With the ratification of the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) in 1963, the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union responded to worldwide concerns about

radiation fallout. The LTBT suspended nuclear testing in the atmosphere, space, and in the seas, effectively confining testing underground. Congressional

approval of the treaty was tied to the establishment of safeguards set forth by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that would maintain the readiness of the U.S.

nuclear weapon research and development program. The third safeguard—the Readiness Program—provided for “The maintenance of the facilities and resources

necessary to institute promptly nuclear tests in the atmosphere should they be deemed essential to our national security or should the treaty or any of its terms

be abrogated by the Soviet Union.”

This exhibit traces the events leading up to the Readiness Program and highlights Sandia’s readiness role.

Race to the Moratorium 

Understanding the push for readiness requires a familiarity with the sequence of events surrounding the

U.S. and U.S.S.R. moratorium on nuclear testing from 1958 to 1961. Anticipating the upcoming moratorium,

the U.S. launched Joint Task Force 7 (JTF-7) and rushed to complete weapon development, weapon

effects, and safety tests in the atmosphere, at high altitudes, and underground. These included the

Hardtack I atmospheric and high-altitude test series in the Pacific from May into August of 1958, Argus

tests in the South Atlantic in August and September of 1958, and Hardtack II at the Nevada Test Site in

September and October 1958. Major General Alvin Luedecke (U.S. Army) commanded JTF-7 and William

Ogle of Los Alamos served as scientific deputy for this and other exercises. Don Shuster—later appointed

Sandia’s director of field test—commanded the 2,665-member scientific unit that was the center of the

operational effort. The scientific task group, including 150 Sandians, was responsible for designing fuzing and firing systems, developing instrumentation, and providing technical support for the Pacific tests.

During the Hardtack II test series in Nevada in September and

October 1958, Sandia technicians suspended nuclear devices from

tethered balloons as a substitute for more expensive towers;

balloons became another Sandia specialty.

Sandians provided, prepared, and armed the firing system for the nuclear devices

carried by the Army’s Redstone missiles launched from the Johnston Island area for

the Operation Hardtack I Teak and Orange weapon effects tests. On July 31, 1958,

Teak, the first high-altitude (252,000 feet) detonation [see inset], produced a 

spectacular fireball and colorful aurora that was visible from Honolulu 700 nautical

miles away. The detonation created a magnetic disturbance in the atmosphere that

affected radio transmissions. The less dramatic Orange shot followed on August 11

at an altitude of 141,000 feet.

In support of the Teak and Orange events, Sandia designed single- and two-stage Doorknob rockets that

were launched from Johnston Island. The rockets measured nuclear radiation, blast, thermal radiation, and

electromagnetic effects. Under the leadership of Morgan Kramm, John Eckhart, and Dick Eno, Sandia became

a leader in small, unguided rocket design and testing—eventually conducting over 1,500 rocket launches at

sites around the world.

Beginning with Hardtack I, missiles carrying nuclear devices were launched from Johnston Island

in the North Pacific. Johnston had been used during WWII as an aircraft and submarine stopover

and refueling base; nuclear testing activities further covered the surface with airfield operation

support structures. This photograph of Johnston Island (looking east) was taken in 1962.

Over the long summer of 1958,

Operation Hardtack I detonated

thirty-five nuclear tests at

Enewetak and Bikini in the

Marshall Islands and at Johnston

Island. The shots ranged in size

from the zero-yield Quince test on

August 6 on Enewetak to the 9.3

megaton-yield Popular on Bikini on

July 12. Quince left this small 

crater at ground zero.

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shot yielded about 60 megatons, making it the largest 

single nuclear test ever. The U.S. was not prepared to

resume atmospheric nuclear testing and scrambled to 

get its program back up and running. Joint Task Force 8 

(JTF-8) under the command of Major General Alfred Dodd

Starbird (U.S. Army) was formed to conduct the first U.S.

post-moratorium test. In April 1962, the high-altitude

Operation Dominic and Fishbowl tests began in the Pacific.

For two months in late summer of 1962, Sandians worked

around the clock to design, build, and successfully fire the

new rocket—called Strypi. Strypi’s name implied that in

accepting the challenge Sandia had taken a “tiger by the

tail.” Although it never carried a nuclear warhead into

space again, the Strypi became a workhorse in Sandia’s

rocket research program.

In November 1962, a Thor missile was launched for Operation Fishbowl’s

Kingfish high-altitude test in the Pacific. The streak on the right was formed by

the missile carrying the warhead, and the streaks on the left are from Sandia

and DoD diagnostic rockets.

On hand for a Strypi XI launch at the Kauai Test Facility in

the late 1980s were Bob Peurifoy, Dick Eno, Wayne Lathrop,

Jack Canute, Drayton Boozer, Ron Bentley, Tom Hoban,

Al Watts, Bill Barton, Carter Broyles, Randy Maydew, Venky

Narayanamurti, and Pat Walters.

Sandia field testers

for Operation

Dominic installed a

Nike booster on a

launcher at Kauai in

May 1962.

The Dominic operations required extensive laboratory support—the purchasing division

worked 60-75 hours a week during the operation, while the packaging and shipping 

division prepared and shipped 1,333,977 pounds of materiel within six weeks for the 

overseas operation.

, , ,

served as the airdrop staging area.

The Thor, designed as an ICBM, had to be

reconfigured to carry test payloads. Sandia

designed the warhead hardware and modified the payload end of the rocket. After

serious malfunctions took the Thor out of

action for four months, Starbird asked

Sandia to build an alternate carrier vehicle

in time for the test series.

In 1962, the Atomic Energy Commission acquired part of the Auxiliary Landing

Field Bonham in Kauai, Hawaii, for launching diagnostic rockets. The site was

used for Operation Dominic and renamed the Kauai Test Readiness Facility.

Now called the Kauai Test Facility, it remains in use today.

In June 1962, Bill Ogle, left,

JTF-8 Scientific Deputy, two

unidentified Army officers, and

Major General Starbird met

with John J. Miller, manager of

Sandia’s rocket test projects

division, to review Dominic

operations at Kauai.

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in the readiness effort to modify three aircraft to serve as flying laboratories, design test vehicles to

carry the devices and telemetry for nuclear tests, and participate in readiness practice missions, often

in connection with scientific research projects.

In 1967, 170 Sandians were assigned to the 

971-member JTF-8 Operation Paddlewheel 

exercise. The technical crew for the laboratories’

NC-135s at Hickham Air Force Base on Honolulu

included, back row: Paul Seward, Albert Huters,

Jr., Carl E. Smith, Robert Scharrer, W. Leroy

Thomas, Herbert Sisson, Walter Norris, Marlin

Frettem, Richard McKnight, David Ryerson,

Robert E. Taylor, Sanford Markowitz, Edwin

Oakes, Gorden Worthen, Lester Harris, James T.

Wright, Ernest Niper, Robert W. Martin, William

Bierly; front row: Rambert T. Rivera, Vaughn

Nogle, Billy Stanton, Henry Ward, Jr., Jerome

Truskowski, Andrew Sayers, Larry Gillette, Paul

Stang, Roland Hewitt, Robert Hooker, Jr.

In 1968 readiness aircraft were used in Material Test Vehicle (MTV) booster tests using a

modified Strypi. The performance of the MTV and a re-entry vehicle was monitored by

telemetry from Johnston Island and receiving stations on board the readiness aircraft.

Aircraft also served as airborne platforms for the optical instrumentation shown here.

The mission commander was stationed at this console inside the NC-135.

Technical personnel monitored specific systems, such as telemetry, and kept

the mission commander informed. The console had a complete array of 

communications technology.

Sandia’s NC-135 in flight,

Tail Number 00370.

In 1966, members of the Pacific Planning Board—

a group of 150 scientists, government, and military representatives—met at Sandia Laboratory

to review readiness exercises in the Pacific.

Shown here are Robert Goeckermann, LRL, JTF-8

Scientific Deputy; Don Shuster, Sandia director of

Special Projects; Lee Hollingsworth, Sandia 

director of Field Testing; and Major General John

Stevenson (U. S. Air Force) JTF-8 Commander.

Carter Broyles was also a member of the board.

Other Sandia technical participants included

Morgan Kramm, Albert Huters, Jr., Arthur Cole,

Roland Millican, and Joseph Stiegler. William W.

Parker, and Arnold Lamb represented Sandia’s

administrative support activities at the meeting.

Arthur McMullen served as the Joint

Labs Antenna Engineer and was

responsible for the many antenna 

systems required for data acquisition.

McMullen is shown here checking an

antenna set-up at Barbers Point,

Oahu. An NC-135 readiness aircraft 

is visible in the background.

In 1963, Sandia and its partner laboratories worked with the Air Force to install instrumentation in three modified

Air Force 707 jets, renamed NC-135s, for use by Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore laboratories. NC-135

aircraft offered the opportunity to perform operational diagnostics at optimum locations. The aircraft remained

in service until 1976.

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Force Command, the exercises became massive operations.

Exercises validated that air drop hardware, procedures, and

personnel were maintained at the required state of development and readiness to test. Instead of actual bombs, test

vehicles were dropped, packed full of devices to simulate the

magnetic and radiation effects of nuclear blasts.

A UTV arrived from the assembly building mounted on its

Air Force-designed mobile handling equipment ready to be

loaded on a B-52.

The UTV was lifted into position for 

loading into the B-52’s open bomb 

bay. Sandia lab personnel were 

present to witness loading, but only

the Air Force did the moving,

handling, and loading of the test

vehicles. Sandia tested this equipment, minus any nuclear explosive

devices, during training exercises at

the Kingman Reef site, near

Christmas Island, a British Mandate

near the Equator.

Companion Test Vehicles were used for

diagnostic information transmitted to the

NC-135s. The number and position of

these vehicles varied from test to test.

A UTV loaded inside the bomb bay

of a B-52 aircraft.

B-52s on the landing pad at Barbers Point Naval Air Station, Oahu, Hawaii, awaited loading of test

vehicles for a training exercise. The B-52 assigned Tail Number 0-20013 is now on display in front

of the National Atomic Museum.

Herb Filusch alongside the Big Test Vehicle, banded to

an S212 bolster and loaded on an S289 dolly.

The rear section of a Universal Test Vehicle (UTV) protruded into a free space chamber as part of the pre-B52

loading systems checkout in the assembly building at Barbers Point. Sandia test vehicles (ballistic shapes with

arming and fuzing systems) could be tailored to house test devices of various sizes and shapes.

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lenging experiences to help them maintain the required state of readiness. The research 

supported Sandia’s work in aerospace nuclear safety, space vehicle re-entry, nuclear burst

physics, and satellite detection

of nuclear tests. Scientists

considered this research especially useful because the aircraft could fly above much 

of the dust and atmospheric

disturbances that hampered

ground-based observatories.

Rockets with instrument payloads were launched separately

and simultaneously with the

NC-135 flights to provide additional data.

In another eclipse study in the fall of 1966, 50 Sandia scientists

used aircraft and rockets to study solar phenomenon during a

total eclipse off the southeast coast of Brazil. The flying laboratory raced along the path of the moon’s shadow at 600 mph

allowing scientists to stretch the total

eclipse viewing time from less

than two minutes on the

ground to three minutes, one second.

The notches

observed around

the edge of the

moon were due

to overexposure

from solar flares.

In early 1965, Sandians fired

two Nike Tomahawk rockets

from the Churchill Research

Range, Manitoba, Canada, for

Project Cariboo I, a joint

Sandia and Los Alamos investigation of the aurora borealis

(northern lights.) 

During stopovers at points around the globe, Sandians enjoyed interactions with the

local residents. When the Sandia aircraft landed in Lima, Peru, after the 1966 

eclipse study, John Kuruzovich visited a Sisters of Charity convent and ended 

up spending two days repairing the convent’s vehicle. While Kuruzovich was 

occupied, Mert Robertson, scientific commander of the Sandia aircraft, explained 

the purpose of the eclipse study to students of the missionary school.

On the 1967 expedition, the 

crews conducted night flights to

simultaneously gather data on the

aurora borealis and on cosmic rays

from two magnetically conjugate

points. Scientists observed that with

a two-second lag time the auroras

appeared to be mirror images of each

other in the northern and southern

hemispheres. This view of the aurora

was taken in Alaska.

Dave Mayhew, Bill Bierly,

Paul Vandenberg, and Mert

Robertson were at a scenic

point during a stopover in

American Samoa while in

route for a spring 1968 

cosmic ray and auroral study

based in New Zealand.

Route of the Sandia flying laboratory during

the 1966 solar eclipse study. In March 1967, Robert Martin,

Sanford “Sandy” Markowitz,

Raymond Caster, Mert Robertson,

and Roland Hewitt examined a

map while preparing for the first

expedition to New Zealand; a 

second aircraft with Los Alamos

experiments flew to Alaska.

Similar missions followed in 

1968 and 1970.

Twenty-seven Sandians journeyed half-way around the world in

diagnostic aircraft to study the solar eclipse in the South Pacific 

on May 30, 1965. John Kuruzovich, Jose Llamas, John Barsic, and

Lyle Porter operated a manual tracking infrared spectrograph—

dubbed the holy cow because of its array of capabilities—for the

expedition.
General George Brown (U.S. Air Force) to test and evaluate the low-altitude

penetration capabilities of aircraft weapons systems and their defense.

JTF-2 was headquartered at Sandia Base. At General Brown’s request and

with AEC approval, Sandia Laboratories supported JTF-2. Don Shuster led

Sandia’s effort, which was centered in John Eckhart’s systems evaluation

group. Tom Sellers supervised development of instrumentation pods and

monitoring equipment; Jim DeMontmollin managed test planning; John J.

Miller handled site engineering and maintenance.

The Tonopah Test Range crew laid out a zigzag course for the 

aircraft to follow over terrain ranging from flat to mountainous.

Using an Army CH 3C helicopter in May 1965, test range 

maintenance crews delivered orange barrels to mark the flight

path for JTF-2 flights.

By July 1965, crews of eight different aircraft

types from the Air Force, Army, Navy, and

Marines had flown 450 low-level sorties.

Flight tests proved excellent training for aircraft pilots and crews bound for Vietnam.

Sandia built a flight simulator by projecting film of test flights on a 160o screen. From the

mock cockpit in the center, pilots reacted to situations presented on the screen. Sandia found

that success depended less on which delivery system was used than on the training and skill 

of the delivery crew.

Readiness Program ends

The Readiness Program was severely curtailed in 1974. Funding for the program evaporated 

as political concerns made it evident that atmospheric nuclear testing would not resume.

Finally, with the loss of Air Force support and President Ford’s deletion of the word “promptly”

from the third safeguard, the Readiness Program ended in 1975.

Events leading up to the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty and the establishment of the Readiness

Program demonstrate how Sandia’s staff and expertise were mobilized to support the nation’s

nuclear and non-nuclear weapon research and development programs in changing political 

circumstances. Sandia brought its unique capabilities to many aspects of the program, including test vehicle and weapon design, scientific research, rocketry, modifications to the NC-135

aircraft, and development of instrumentation for low-level testing. Sandia’s role in the

Readiness Program serves as a straightforward example of how the lab responds to urgent

national priorities—an endeavor that continues today. A Sandia-developed instrument pod was loaded on an A-4C aircraft for low-level testing in 1967. Although

flight tests were moved from Tonopah to rugged terrain in the Ozarks in 1966 and to other locations in 1967

and 1968, Sandians continued to maintain and operate the instrumentation. Original task force plans called

for continued testing into the 1970s, but Vietnam provided a more realistic testing ground.

A Navy A-6 aircraft completing a low-level test drop.

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the

United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

The Corporate Archives & History Program wishes to thank the following individuals who contributed 

materials and information for this exhibit: John Bahlman, John Dickenson, Richard Eno, Hubert Filusch, 

Diana Helgesen, Fredrick Leckman, Arthur McMullen, Ernest Niper, Harold Rarrick, Merton Robertson, 

Robert O. Woods. 

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