The Missile Makers

In the name of security, news on the U.S. crash program for producing the intercontinental (5,000 miles) ballistic missile and its smaller brother, the intermediate-range (1,500 miles) missile, has been tightly restricted. But last week the Air Force Association convention in New Orleans heard the most definitive report yet on which companies are developing components for the "ultimate weapon."

Brigadier General Don R. Ostrander, Assistant Deputy Commander of the Air Research and Development Command, disclosed that several companies are working on each of the four major components of the missiles: air frame, propulsion system, nose cone, guidance system. The project is being technically supervised by Los Angeles' young, hustling Ramo-Wooldridge Corp., headed by two top research scientists, Dr. Dean Wooldridge, 43, and Dr. Simon Ramo, 43, who seceded from Hughes Aircraft less than three years ago to found their own electronics corporation (TIME, Oct. 5, 1953). They answer directly to the Air Force's Western Development Division, supervise a long list of industrial giants working out the problems of components for ballistic missiles. Among them:

AIR FRAMES: Convair and Glenn L. Martin Co. are developing separate intercontinental frames, each with a different shape and rocket arrangement. An intermediate-range frame is being developed by Douglas Aircraft Co.

PROPULSION SYSTEMS : North American Aviation and General Tire & Rubber Co.'s Aerojet General Corp. are testing rocket engines to propel missiles beyond the earth's heavy stratosphere into the ionosphere. American Machine & Foundry Co. is at work on auxiliary power units for the missiles.

NOSE CONES: Avco Manufacturing Corp., General Electric and Lockheed are working at the metallurgical riddle of saving the warhead from disintegrating from heat when it curves back into the stratosphere, 50 to 80 miles up, at 16,000 m.p.h. All are experimenting with new heat-resistant metals.

GUIDANCE SYSTEMS: Contractors are General Motors' AC Spark Plug Division, American Bosch Arma Corp., General Electric Co., Burroughs Corp., Remington Rand Univac Division and Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Although Airman Ostrander did not disclose the size of individual contracts, a solid estimate is that the Government has invested $5 billion in missiles, will spend $1.2 billion this year alone. As for progress to date, Ostrander disclosed that Lockheed has already test-flown a nose cone through and possibly beyond the ionosphere, a layer of thin air 50 to 250 miles above the earth. This indicates that the U.S. has met some success on probably the most difficult of all missile problems: re-entry into the stratosphere. Said Ostrander: "No major breakthroughs are necessary to build and launch a long-range missile."

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