The 20 in 1 Flying Nuclear Doomsday Device - Project Pluto
1 2021-04-16T03:21:59+00:00 Alec Meden e1e797c9a6d802de2c8135b843c32dd2b47f0d4f 92 1 - As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. plain 2021-04-16T03:21:59+00:00 YouTube Dark Docs 2019-11-12T21:00:05Z CXoRg4CJ6kU Alec Meden e1e797c9a6d802de2c8135b843c32dd2b47f0d4fThis page is referenced by:
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Introduction
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What is Project Pluto
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This is the story of the most devastating weapon never made.
It was the 1950's, and US planners began growing concerned over her possibility of Russian nuclear bomber superiority. They wished to ensure that the US maintained nuclear deterrence by fielding a plausible strike weapon that could evade air defenses of all kinds. Bombers could be shot down, ICBM's were still being developed. Military planners, however, had decided that they needed something guaranteed; something to make good on the promise of nuclear revenge that lies at the heart of nuclear deterrence.
They needed something that could fly low enough to evade radar, fast enough to evade antiaircraft fire and jets. It needed to carry a heavy payload, and it needed to be reliable. Thus, Project Pluto was born.
Project Pluto was a weapons program operated by the US Air Force and Atomic Energy Commission. If it had continued past the planning stage, it would have developed the most devastating weapon in human history, short of a fully stocked ballistic missile submarine. To even fly this vehicle was to irradiate miles of land. So radioactive in fact, that it would kill any pilot, and thus an early version of unmanned drone technology was conceptualized for it, a rarity in the '50s and 60's.
It's ultimate goal was to drop sixteen nuclear weapons before crashing into a final target, baring it's radioactive reactor core to the world.
The program lasted for 7 years, involved 2 successful tests of it's engine, and nearly $133 million dollars. But in the year 1964, as ICBM's reign supreme and the horrifying implications of Pluto's weapon raise concern, it is ultimately cancelled.
Why is this important? Because we can learn about what the US government was willing to consider in this time of extreme competition. As the United States, China and Russia enter into a modern era of competition marked by the development of hypersonic weapons that operate under some of the same principles as Pluto, this history only become more relevant.
An excellent short documentary on Project Pluto follows, as well as various pages and links to better understand this fascinating and terrifying program.
