Operation Dropshot was the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

code name for a

contingency plan A contingency plan, or alternate plan, also known colloquially as Plan B, is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have cata ...

for a possible

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

and

conventional war Conventional warfare is a form of warfare conducted by using conventional weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined and fight by using weapons that target primarily ...

with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and its allies in order to counter the anticipated Soviet takeover of

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

, the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

and parts of

Eastern Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan ...

expected to begin about 1957. The plan was prepared in 1949 during the early stages of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

and declassified during 1977. Although the scenario included the use of nuclear weapons, they were not expected to play a decisive role. At the time, the US nuclear arsenal was limited in size, based mostly in the United States, and depended on

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

s for delivery. Dropshot included mission profiles that would have used 300 nuclear bombs and 29,000 high-explosive bombs on 200 targets in 100 cities and towns to wipe out 85 percent of the Soviet Union's industrial potential in a single stroke. Between 75 and 100 of the 300 nuclear weapons were targeted to destroy Soviet combat aircraft on the ground. The scenario was devised prior to the development of

intercontinental ballistic missiles An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

and included the note that the plan would be invalidated if rocketry became a cheap and effective means of delivering nuclear weapons. The documents were later declassified and published as ''Dropshot: The American Plan for World War III Against the Soviet Union in 1957''. Never approved, Dropshot was withdrawn in February 1951 and superseded by Reaper, a plan that anticipated a war in 1954.Rearden, Steven L., (2012). ''Council of War: History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff'', (Washington, D.C.: Joint Chiefs of Staff), p 111, https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/History/Institutional/Council_of_War.pdf

References

Sources

* *

External links

* John J. Reilly
"World War III in 1957"
via ''johnreilly.info'', archived at ''Internet Archive'', 2006 * George Hulett
"Cold War Warrior"
''Air Classics'', 21 August 2004 Cold War Nuclear strategy Soviet Union–United States relations United States Department of Defense plans {{ColdWar-stub

See also

References

Sources

External links