Project Pluto
Videos
Project Pluto was a United States government program to develop nuclear-powered ramjet engines for use in cruise missiles. Two experimental engines were tested at the Nevada Test Site in 1961 and 1964
Tory-IIC nuclear ramjet
Test of the aerodynamic characteristics of a Supersonic Low Altitude Missile (SLAM) or Low Altitude Supersonic Vehicle (LASV) configuration that was to be powered by nuclear ramjet engines developed in Project Pluto
Building 2201 from above
The Tory-IIA prototype
The Supersonic Low Altitude Missile or SLAM was a U.S. Air Force nuclear weapons project conceived around 1955, and cancelled in 1964. SLAMs were conceived of as unmanned nuclear-powered ramjets capab
Project Pluto
…Commission selected the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory to study the feasibility of applying heat from a nuclear reactor to power a ramjet engine for a Supersonic Low Altitude Missile. This would have many advantages over other contemporary nuclear weapons delivery systems: operating at Mach 3, or around 3,700 kilometers per hour…
Tory II-A
Tory II-C