ABSTRACT
In September 1945, immediately after the news of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski broke, members of the Swiss Commission for National Defence began to discuss the possibility of developing nuclear weapons. Strategic considerations amongst Swiss military decision-makers undoubtedly led them to convince policy-makers of the need for Switzerland to acquire its own nuclear weapons. In these early years, many major technical and logistical problems needed to be solved before the 'nuclear dream' could come true. As the Study Commission for Nuclear Energy's mandate required it to search for Uranium ore in Switzerland, attempts were made to find it in the Southern alpine cantons of Wallis and Graubunden. In late 1950s, planning started to find a suitable delivery system for the Swiss nuclear national defence plans. Nuclear rockets were not possible for financial reasons, and plans quickly shifted to finding a suitable airplane.
