I. EVOLUTION TOWARD JUPITER DEVELOPMENT In a sense, it is practically impossible to designate a point in time that could be specified as the starting date for JUPITER planning. To have  a missile weapon system that could strike targets within the depth of theater operations was a prime goal of battlefield commanders.  Based on this criteria, planning for the development of a long-range missile, or at least what would have been considered long-range in  the late Forties and early Fifties, could be said to mark the start. With this in mind, the REDSTONE would be the immediate forerunner of  the JUPITER, and logically so, for many JUPITER components were sophistications of REDSTONE components. At the outset, the REDSTONE program had a range objective of 500 nautical miles. As time drew near to the actual "hardware cutting,"  however, the Office, Chief of Ordnance (OCO) dictated a payload or war¬head weight that reduced the range to less than 200 nautical  miles with the power plants then available. This was in late 1950 when development of the REDSTONE was started. Although the Army  Field Forces (AFF) were now given promise of a missile weapon system with a thermo-nuclear capability, the range was less than desired,  and the REDSTONE became an interim measure to attain at least a short-range capability. A long- range system was still needed, and this  thought was constantly in the minds of many planners. For a while, the thinking was directed toward gaining the additional range through  component redesign of the REDSTONE. In fact, one such proposal in February 1954