Navy Requirements in the Development Program When the Army and Navy actually began the development program, there were a number of problems to overcome. These stemmed mainly from the reconciliation of requirements for the two services into a single missile. Each had to provide for certain operational peculiarities. In this respect, whereas the Army could handle a rather lengthy weapon, the Navy required a weapon as short as possible. The original Army proposal was for a missile that was better than 90 feet high, and the Navy aimed for a 50-foot missile. This called for a compromise, and a 58-foot weapon was decided upon. By going to the shorter length, a greater diameter had to be invoked--105 inches—which caused some Army concern for logistics and transportation reasons. Compromise between the two to gain respective goals became the key to the development mode. In reality, Navy requirements played a rather heavy role in the system's design characteristics in view of the peculiarities of launching a missile at sea: safety and adequate engineering for ship conversion. It was necessary to design a complete set of launching and handling equipment for sea use as well as a set for the land version of the missile. In all of these cases, technical coordination was required and the decisions influenced configuration, so really ABM was engrossed in satisfying all requirements. General Medaris, in November 1956, estimated that the decision on the length and diameter caused a design time loss of two months, and another two-month loss to define several other Navy requirements. Yet, it was known that the sea-based missile would be more complex than the land-based, for many of the latter’s requirements had been resolved and proven 38 . _____________________________

38. JUP Dev Plan, FY 1958, 29 Sep 56; Present by Maj Gen J. B. Medaris to the NSC, Dec 56; Draft, JUP Brochure forwarded to Chf, R&D, DA, c. Jan 57, Hist Off files.