- Operation Magic Sword
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Operation Magic Sword was a 1965 U.S. military operation designed to test the effectiveness of the sea-borne release of insect vectors for biological agents.
Contents
Operation
Operation Magic Sword was U.S. military operation undertaken in 1965. It was designed to ascertain the effectiveness of releasing mosquito vectors for biological agents at sea. It took place off the southeastern coast of the United States and employed yellow fever mosquitoes with the hope of assessing their biting habits following an ocean-borne release.[1]
Results
Magic Sword showed that when coupled with ocean winds that the mosquitoes could travel up to three and one-half miles to shore. The operation also showed that if needed the mosquitoes could be kept alive for cross-ocean journeys.
See also
- Entomological warfare
- Human experimentation in the United States
- Operation Big Itch
- Operation Big Buzz
References
- ^ Lockwood, Jeffery A.. Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War, Oxford University Press US, 2009, p. 203, (ISBN 0195333055).
Further reading
- Hay, Alastair. "A Magic Sword or a Big Itch: An Historical Look at the United States Biological Weapons Programme", (citation), Medicine, Conflict and Survival, Volume 15, Issue 3 July 1999 , pages 215 - 234, (ISSN 1362-3699).
- Horton, Richard C. Health Wars: On the Global Front Lines of Modern Medicine, (Google books link), New York Review of Books, 2003, p.89, (ISBN 1590170245).
United States biological weapons programWeaponized agents Researched agents AHF · BHF · Bird flu · CHIKV · Dengue fever · EEE · Glanders · Hantavirus · Lassa fever · Melioidosis · Newcastle disease · Plague · Potato blight · Psittacosis · Ricin · RVF · Rinderpest · Smallpox · Typhus · WEE · Yellow feverWeapons E120 bomblet · E133 cluster bomb · E14 munition · E23 munition · E48 particulate bomb · E61 bomb · E77 balloon bomb · E86 cluster bomb · E96 cluster bomb · Flettner rotor bomblet · M114 bomb · M115 bomb · M143 bomblet · M33 cluster bombOperations and testing Edgewood Arsenal experiments · Operation Big Buzz · Operation Big Itch · Operation Dark Winter · Operation Dew · Operation Drop Kick · Operation LAC · Operation Magic Sword · Operation May Day · Operation Polka Dot · Operation Whitecoat · Project 112 · Project Bacchus · Project Clear Vision · Project JeffersonFacilities U.S. Army Biological Warfare Labs · Blue Grass Army Depot · Building 101 · Building 257 · Building 470 · Deseret Test Center · Dugway Proving Ground · Edgewood Arsenal · Fort Detrick · Fort Douglas · Fort Terry · Granite Peak Installation · Horn Island Testing Station · One-Million-Liter Test Sphere · Pine Bluff Arsenal · Rocky Mountain Arsenal · Vigo Ordnance PlantRelated topics Biological agent · Biological warfare (BW) · Entomological warfare · Korean War BW allegations · List of topics · Unit 731 · U.S. bio-weapons ban · War Bureau of Consultants · War Research ServiceCategories:- Biological warfare
- Non-combat military operations involving the United States
- 1965 in the United States
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