VELA UNIFORM, THE NATION’S QUEST FOR BETTER DETECTION OF UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS

Abstract

Negotiations between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the USSR have been underway since October 31, 1958, a period of over two years, in an effort to reach agreement on a treaty for cessation of nuclear weapons’ testing. It is United States policy to enter into such a treaty only if there is an effective control system policing such a ban. This paper provides a résumé of key technical events that have occurred with reference to the creation of such a control system, capable of detecting and identifying underground nuclear explosions. The paper also describes the VELA UNIFORM program, a widespread research and development effort under the over‐all management of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, that is designed to improve markedly the state of the art in this particular technical field over the next two to three years.