Anonymous ID: d576e3 Sept. 5, 2018, 7:12 a.m. No.2886124   🗄️.is đź”—kun

>>2886031

>>2885975

 

Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense (SHAD) was part of the joint service chemical and biological warfare test program conducted during the 1960s.

 

Project SHAD encompassed tests designed to identify US warships’ and ashore installations’ vulnerabilities to attacks with chemical or biological warfare agents and to develop procedures to respond to such attacks while maintaining a war-fighting capability.

 

The purpose of Magic Sword was to study the feasibility of an offshore release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and to obtain information on mosquito biting habits, mosquito trap technology, and operational and logistical problems associated with the delivery of mosquitoes to remote sites.

 

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a main vector for various infectious diseases, including dengue and yellow fevers.

Uninfected mosquitoes were released from the USS George Eastman (YAG-39), off the coast of Baker Island and traps were placed on the island as part of the test. As part of an onshore biting study, volunteers were placed at specific locations and a designated number of vectors were released centrally. Volunteers recorded the number of bites received.

A thermal fog generator was used to eradicate the mosquito population on the island at the conclusion of the test. Mosquitoes were eradicated aboard ship through a combination of high heat and insecticide.