Operation ARGUS, Report of Chief, AFSWP, to ARPA

DTRA's history begins with the Manhattan Project, which then split into the Atomic Energy Commission and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project after WWII. The AFSWP became the Defense Atomic Support Agency in 1959; DASA became the Defense Nuclear Agency in 1971; DNA became the Defense Special Weapons Agency in 1996, and was one of the four agencies/programs that combined in 1998 to form the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. This film is about Operation Argus, a series of three high-altitude nuclear tests conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission in the South Atlantic Ocean in August and September 1958. The results of Operation Argus proved the validity of the Christofilos theory.

This theory proposed that a radiation belt is created in the upper regions of the Earth’s atmosphere by high-altitude detonations. The radiation belt affects radio and radar transmissions, damages or destroys the arming and fuzing mechanisms of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile warheads, and endangers crews of orbiting space vehicles that might enter the belt.

The tests, conducted in complete secrecy, were not announced until the following year. Low-yield devices were carried to an altitude of approximately 300 miles by rockets before being detonated.

More than 4,500 military personnel and civilian scientists participated in the test operation.

The tests comprising 1958 Operation Argus were as follows:

ARGUS I, August 27, South 38.5 degrees, West 11.5 degrees, South Atlantic, rocket, weapons effects, 1-2 kt
ARGUS II, August 30, South 49.5 degrees, West 8.2 degrees, South Atlantic, rocket, weapons effects, 1-2 kt
ARGUS III, September 6, South 48.5 degrees, West 9.7 degrees, South Atlantic, rocket, weapons effects, 1-2 kt