Operation Distant Plain was a series of non-nuclear explosive and detonable gas tests performed on test sites in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada, during the course of 1966 and 1967. Their purpose was to provide airblast, cratering, and ground shock data in summer and winter conditions for testing new prototype equipment, military targets and

coniferous forest Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

blowdown, and

defoliation A defoliant is any Herbicide, herbicidal chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause their Leaf, leaves to fall off. Defoliants are widely used for the selective removal of weeds in managing croplands and lawns. Worldwide use of defoliants, ...

. Participants included Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States under the Tripartite Technical Cooperation Program. Detonable gas balloons were used in this operation in an attempt to find an economical substitute for

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

as well as for the fact that they could be placed at desired heights without a heavy support structure or towers. In addition, they were more adaptable to airblast phenomena and produced a well defined blast wave without perturbation or ejecta; they also produced no crater. However, it was found that they lacked the high pressure associated with high explosives, and difficulties were encountered as the 20-ton gas balloon ruptured and another detonated unexpectedly during inflation. Ultimately

ANFO ANFO ( ) (or AN/FO, for ammonium nitrate/fuel oil) is a widely used bulk industrial high explosive. It consists of 94% porous prilled ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) (AN), which acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel, and 6% number ...

was elected as a lower cost alternative to TNT for non-nuclear explosives tests.

Tests

The following table summarizes the events that took place during the operation in chronological order. File:DistantPlainGasDetonation.jpg, Detonation of 20 tons of propane-oxygen hemisphere in Event 2A. The blast wave can be seen affecting the smoke trails.

References

{{coord missing, Alberta Explosions in Canada Explosions in 1966 Explosions in 1967 1966 in Canada 1967 in Canada Military projects of the United States 1966 in military history 1967 in military history Distant Plain Science and technology in Alberta Events in Alberta DRDC Suffield