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A GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS
ABM: Anti-ballistic-missile. Any of a number of different systems designed to intercept missile warheads.
AEC: The U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.
AMSA: Advanced manned strategic aircraft. Beginning in the mid-sixties, the designation for the next long-range bomber.
ANP: Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion. A program whose objective was the development of an aircraft powered by nuclear energy.
ARDC: The Air Research and Development Command of the U. S. Air Force.
ARPA: The Advanced Research Projects Agency. A part of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
A-1, -2, -3: Designations for various versions of the Polaris missile.
BMEWS: Ballistic-missile early-warning system. Huge radars and associated equipment designed to detect a missile attack about 15 minutes before the warheads arrive.
B-17, -29, etc.: Designation for Air Force long-range bombers.
CEP: Circular error probable. Ideally, the radius of a circle within which half of a large number of warheads would fall if all of them were fired at the same center.
DDRE: The Director of Defense Research and Engineering. The official in the Office of the Secretary of Defense charged with the responsibility for all research, development, test and evaluation programs in the Department of Defense.
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DEW line: Distant early-warning line. A radar system located in the Far North whose purpose is to detect attacking bombers.
FOBS: Fractional orbital bombardment system. A low-flying, long-range missile attack system.
F-104, -108, etc.: Air Force designation for fighter aircraft.
GSETD: General systems engineering and technical direction. A technique for managing very large programs.
ICBM: Intercontinental ballistic missile.
IRBM: Intermediate-range ballistic missile. A missile whose range is typically 1,000-2,000 miles.
IGY: International Geophysical Year: July, 1957, through December, 1958.
JATO: Jet-assisted takeoff. Usually used as the name for small but powerful rockets used to give an extra push at take off to seaplanes, etc.
JCAE: The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. A joint Senate-House committee having the legislative responsibility for all nuclear-energy programs.
JPL: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Operated by the California Institute of Technology for NASA.
K-25: Designation for one of the wartime plants for producing nuclear explosives.
MIRV: Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. A system enabling one missile to simultaneously strike more than one target.
MRV: Multiple reentry vehicles. A shotgunlike system for bombarding a target area with more than one warhead.
MOL: Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The designation of a specific Air Force project.
MSR: Missile-site radar. Pan of the Safeguard ABM system.
NACA: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Actually the designation of a former system of government laboratories. It ceased to exist in 1958. See NASA.
NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A system of laboratories and other facilities formed in 1958 from NACA plus some other missile-development organizations.
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NEPA: Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft. The early name for the project whose goal was nuclear-powered flight.
NORAD: North American Air Defense Command. A joint U.S.-Canada command charged with the air defense of all North America.
PAR: Perimeter acquisition radar. A part of the Safeguard ABM system.
PSAC: The President's Science Advisory Committee.
SAC: The Strategic Air Command. A unit of the U. S. Air Force.
SAGE: Semi-Automatic Ground Environment. A system originally intended to integrate and control the air defense of North America.
SAM: The general designation for surface-to-air missiles, ours or theirs.
SAINT: Satellite interceptor. A system designated to rendezvous with somebody else's noncooperative satellite.
SLBM: Sea- (or submarine)-launched ballistic missile. Polaris and Poseidon.
SLV: Space launch vehicle.
SSBN: Nuclear-powered missile-launching submarine.
SS 9, -I 1, etc.: Our designation for Soviet ICBMs (SS stands for "surface- to surface").
TFX: A controversial fighter-bomber originally intended for Navy and Air Force use.
U-2: Long-range high-altitude U. S. spy plane.
U235: A nuclear explosive. One of the isotopes of the element uranium.
WDD: The Western Development Division. The early designation of the Air Force unit responsible for the development of missiles and satellites.
X-10: Originally a wartime designation for a laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Y-12: One of the huge plants at Oak Ridge for producing nuclear explosives.
