ATLAS-I

Not to be confused with the Atlas I intercontinental ballistic missile.
A Boeing B-52 strategic bomber being prepared for EMP testing at Trestle in 1982.

ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Laboratories near Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[1]

ATLAS-I was the largest NNEMP (non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse) generator in the world, designed to test the radiation hardening of strategic aircraft systems against EMP pulses from nuclear warfare. Built at a cost of $60 million, it was composed of two parts: a pair of powerful Marx generators capable of simulating the electromagnetic pulse effects of a high-altitude nuclear explosion (HANE) of the type expected during a nuclear war, and a giant wooden trestle built in a bowl-shaped arroyo, designed to elevate the test aircraft above ground interference and orient it below the pulse in a similar manner to what would be seen in mid-air.[2]

Trestle is the world's largest structure composed entirely of wood and glue laminate.[3]

  1. ^ Giri, D.V. Ph.D. "The notes of Dr. Carl E. Baum". Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  2. ^ Yang, F.C. Lee, K.S.H. (July 1980). "Analytical representation of ATLAS I (Trestle) Fields" (PDF). University of New Mexico. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  3. ^ "U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project: The Trestle Electromagnetic Pulse Simulator" Archived 2011-09-10 at the Wayback Machine. Brookings Institution. Retrieved 8/8/2011.