One of the most important considerations in the Cold War arms race between the US and USSR was time to target. That is once the enemy target is identified, how long is the interval from command to strike back and the actual hit with our bomb. The USSR had shown itself to be expansionistic and the aggressor in many conflicts in Eastern Europe and in Korea, and America had to be prepared to counter attack in the quickest time possible.
General Joe Collins, Army Joint Chief of staff under Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, served during the entire Korean War and this document below is the result of a study he did during 1952-1954.
The first and fastest were the 280mm (11 inch) Howitzer aka the Atomic Cannon and the Honest John Rocket. These both fired warheads equal or stronger than the Hiroshima bomb and were operational in 1953 and 1954.
The Corporal Missile was available in 1955 and had a W7 warhead that produced 22Kilotons (KT) of TNT or 50% more power than the 15KT Hiroshima bomb. The W7 warhead was an experimental warhead that mixed both plutonium and uranium but was found to produce 1/3 less explosive force than expected.
The Hermes Rocket system was based on the work of captured German Scientist Werner Van Braun and the Nazi V2 self propelled rocket. The Hermes rocket project began in 1944 when the US captured a Nazi production facility and shipped all there equipment to the newly established White Sands Missile Base in New Mexico. The Hermes A-3B missile was produced in 1953-54 and had a 1000 pound warhead. It is thought the weight of the warhead cause many problems.
And that further advances were need in the booster engine. The Hermes failed many launches and never became operational.
As we move down the list we go from artillery, to rockets, to missiles, and then to planes, with TAC and SAC representing the Tactical Air Command and the Strategic Air Command. This study demonstrated the “Strike time” for the Air Force would be much greater, 7-10 hours, than for the Army, 3-4 hours. Hence much of the military budget was dedicated to developing nuclear artillery for deployment in Europe and Asia.
