Army-Air Force Cooperative Program Although SPUTNIK was a tilting weight on the scales, the extensive deliberating period by the ad hoc committee was largely due to the fact that on one hand an IRBM had been proven by flight tests and on the other a program of only promise existed. Based on this fact, it would have been unwise to have eliminated the JUPITER. Hence, the decision was made to develop both. The Air Force was now directed to assist in the development of the JUPITER to meet national operational requirements 50 . Suffice it to say, the closing months of 1957 were marked by numerous meetings and coordination of specifications between the two development organizations. Two major problem areas that ABMA faced were GSE and a valid training plan. This condition existed because, since program approval for development on 8 November 1955, no authority had been given for GSE development or operational training other than that associated with the R&D effort. AFBMD representatives, on 18 September 1957, visited ABMA to review conceptual operational GSE plans to assure that the JUPITER could be integrated into the existing THOR GSE development program. As a note of interest, this was several days past the Secretary's decision deadline. And during the next month, ABMA GSE engineers visited AFBMD and the Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC) to study the application of THOR GSE to the JUPITER program. Shortly _____________________________

50. JUP Story, prepared by Gen Medaris for S/A, 14 Dec 59, Hist Off files.