Faced with the presumed numerical superiority of Soviet long-range nuclear bombers, the United States began development of the Genie, a 1.3-kton tactical nuclear weapon, launchable from a US Air Force fighter, capable of destroying an entire squadron of Soviet bombers without necessarily hitting them directly. Within a 1.6-kilometer radius, it had a 92% probability of kill. Detonated at high altitude and at Arctic latitudes, it would cause death from absorbed gamma radiation within 5 minutes, producing a brilliant white flash and a huge circular cloud that would begin to rise, forming a gigantic smoke ring in the sky. The radioactive fallout would be negligible. It would become operational on January 1, 1957.
