A FIRST PRINCIPLE APPROACH TO MULTIPLE HIGH-ALTITUDE NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS

ENVIRONMENTAL DISTURBANCES PRODUCED BY HIGH-ALTITUDE NUCLEAR DETONATIONS ARE WIDESPREAD AND PERSISTENT. DATA FROM ATMOSPHERIC TESTS (LATE 50'S, EARLY 60'S) PLUS EXTENSIVE RESEARCH EFFORTS ARE THE BASIC FOR UNDERSTANDING THE NUCLEAR ENVIRONMENT AND RESULTANT SYSTEMS EFFECTS. HOWEVER, ALL NUCLEAR TESTS AND MOST SUBSEQUENT BASIC RESEARCH HAVE INVOLVED ONLY SINGLE EXPLOSIONS. BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE ISSUES CONSIDERED BY THE STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE ORGANIZATION (SDIO) INCLUDE DISTRIBED ENVIRONMENTS PRODUCED BY NUMEROUS HIGH-ALTITUDE NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS. MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS MAY BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF MISSILE DEFENSE, RESULT FROM A SALVAGE-FUSED WEAPONS, OR BE AN OFFENSIVE TACTIC TO SUPPRESS SENSORS, DEFENSIVE WEAPONS, OR COMMUNICATIONS. PRESENT CAPABILILTIES TO SIMULATE HIGHALTITUDE NUCLEAR DETONATIONS ON A PHYSICS-BASED "FIRST-PRINCIPLES" LEVEL ARE LIMITED TO SINGLE EXPLOSIONS AND TO A LIMITED CLASS OF MULTIPLE DETONATIONS. IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT NON-LINEAR INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS PRECLUDE ARBITRARY SUPERPOSITION OF SINGLE-BURST PHENOMENA, BUT THERE IS NO COMPREHENSIVE FIRSTPRINCIPLES CAPABILITY TO CALCULATE THESE COMPLEX EFFECTS. THIS PROPOSAL SEEKS TO INITIATE AN EFFORT TO CORRECT THIS DEFICIENCY.