WEATHER: WAREFARE'S NEXT WEAPON?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100070096-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 25, 2000
• Sequence Number: 96
• Publication Date: January 2, 1963
• Content Type: NSPR

M p
Weapon'
Admiral Predicts Arsenal of Storms, , Icebergs, and Fog
A startling picture of weather
as a weapon of war is offered by
Vice -Adm. William F. Raborn,
deputy' chief of. naval operations
in charge of research and develop-
ment, In the current Issue of the
rilonthly magazine, Naval Insti-
tute Proceedings.
In an article on the Navy of
1973, outlining current and future
naval development projects, Ad-
miral Raborn outlines such possi-
billties as diverting storms toward
enemy communications, causing
destructive weather phenomena, or
controlling the weather to help a
military . assault. He placed no
timetable 'cu these developments.
Here -=Irep inted with permission
of the United. States Naval Insti-
tute, which Ull'as copyrighted the
material-is the... key section on
weather from - Admiral Raborn's
"The possibilities ,for the mili-
tary employment ,.ofthe 'weather
weapon' may be asdiverse as they
are numerous, ..An ahility to con-
trol the weather .eq 1 d k introduce
greater changes in wa'rfare than
those. which occurred `if 19,15 with
the explosion of the first nuclear
weapons.
"A severe storm or hurricane
striking a naval force may well
Inflict greater damage than could
an enemy. The capability to change
the direction of destructive storms
and guide them toward enemy con-
centrations may exist in the future
arsenal of the naval tactical com-
mander.
"Ground, sea, air, and amphibi-
us operations might be supported
r by thr' production of rain or
roucht. Converselv,;. the creation
f "'Mid, low ove gaitg might be
ions, rnrvements, and task force
CPYRGHT
fluencing the ionosphere and at-
mosphere simultaneously, mag-
netic, acoustic, and pressure ef-
fects might be generated. in such
a way that oceanwide sweeping of
mines would occur.
"Creating or dissipating atmos-
pheric temperature/humidity ducts
might modify the refractive in-
dex of the atmosphere enough to
influence radar or radio transmis-
sion. Artificially induced iono-
spheric storms might produce a
blackout of communications.
"Certain electromagnetic waves
are unable to pass through an area
of precipitation. A cloud-seeding
generator: could be employed under
appropriate meteorological condi-
tions to produce precipitation' that
would interfere with the operation
of radio-guided or remotely con-
trolled devices or vehicles.
"We already have taken "our
first steps toward developing an
environmental warfare capability.
We are using satellite weather
data from Tiros II for current; ?_
tactical operations and more, ac-
curate long-range weather predtc- ;
ions, Some 'experiments in fog
dissipation have shown promise,
and some exploratory research has
been conducted on ways to change
the heading. of major storms.
"For thesa reasons-and because
our advsnces in science make It
reasonable-we are now engaged
in planning a 10-year, comprehen-
sive study of the atmosphere, a
study which we will designate
ATMOS."
Approved For Release 2000/06/13 : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000100070096-5