The wind tunnel models of the FBTV and the B-52 were built from aluminium and supplied to Cornell by Sandia. Sandia Corporation operates Sandia National Laboratories, which is a premier nuclear to weapons ordnance engineering laboratory… i.e., they designed nuclear bombs. The wind tunnel testing was conducted at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in 1966 the testing was conducted for the Sandia Corporation, the designers of the Flashback Test Vehicle. These diagrams were used to provide a load good guide to shape and dimensions. The Flashback Test Vehicle and modified B-52C were shown in some poor-quality photos and some decent-quality wind tunnel model diagrams. A number of antennae protruded from the rear of the device, presumably transmitters of onboard telemetry generated during a drop. The tail fins, it should be noted, are quite similar to the fins on large hydrogen bombs of the time. In the rear of the tail was a large Parachute package. A short cylindrical section followed, with a tapering tail section with three wedge-like tail fins. The use of a Titan II RV, if that is indeed what it is, was likely a matter of convenience and availability… although it could also potentially imply commonality with a Titan-delivered version of the high-yield warhead. At the front was a round-nosed cone that in Configuration and dimension closely – though not precisely – matched those of the Mark 6 re-entry vehicle from the Titan II ICBM. The configuration of the Flashback Test Vehicle was distinct. It was about 96 inches in di diameter and 297 inches long, not counting the protruding parachute pack or antennae. The Flashback device itself was large: large enough that in order to fit into the B-52 bomb bay the bomb bay doors had to be removed, and even then the device protruded from the belly of the aircraft.
#TSAR BOMBA MEGATONS SIMULATOR#
During the flight tests all high explosive and nuclear components were deleted and a simulator replaced the warhead. Instead, the susceptibility of the Flashback device to electromagnetic emissions from the ARC-58 transmitter in the B-52 carrier aircraft and the device’s own telemetry transmitters was the point of the test. These tests did not involve the dropping of a nuclear bomb which then detonated.
January of 1965, the Flashback Test Vehicle was tested at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The bomb casing and other hardware would be tested and ready to go, with the fission/fusion explosive expected to be plugged in and ready to detonate within 90 days of the Soviet test. Flashback was a test of such a bomb… but without the actual atomic explosive, testing the associated hardware, ballistics and electronics.
It was a way to rapidly build and demonstrate a high yield (50 to 100 megaton) hydrogen bomb in the event the Soviets violated the treaty, as they were likely expected to do. The Flashback nuclear test vehicle was so large it had to be partly suspended outside of the B-52 bomb bay.įlashback was part of a programme created after the signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963.
0 kommentar(er)
