HISTORY - Page 60
Ground Support Equipment
Difficulty in the GSE development of JUPITER came to
pass for reasons that were other than technical. At the
outset of the program, the DOD dictum was strictly
confined to developing the IRBM and nothing was said
about GSE. (This was quite a contrast to the THOR
program, in which missile and related GSE
development progressed almost simultaneously.) This
situation existed all through 1956 and until October
1957, when DOD directed weapon system
development. A target date for deployment to an
overseas site was set for December 1958. Although the
Agency was pleased that the JUPITER was finally
headed toward weaponization, the impact in view of
the time phase was critical on GSE and training. This
meant that within a minimum of 12 months, GSE
would have to be designed, fabricated, and tested, and
personnel trained in its use. Just before the DOD
decision was released, the ABMA technical group
estimated that JUPITER GSE was about one year behind
Air Force efforts
79
.
This was not the end of the complications, either. For
one thing, the employment concept changed. To attain
the early operational capability, the Air Force went
along with the Army idea of mobility, as opposed to
the fixed site operation they supported. ABMA
immediately went to work on mobile GSE, which was
not too difficult because they had REDSTONE
equipment to serve as a pattern. The main problem in
the mobility phase was expediting contractor delivery,
for, more often than not, reports constantly cited that
such-and-such a component was late in delivery. This
caused concern as the
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79. Hist, ABMA, Jan-Jun 58, pp. 48-49; Fact Book, /Compilation of Documents on/ Opnl
Acceptability and GSE, Aug & Sep 57, Hist Off files.