Operation Magic Sword

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.

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.

References

^ Lockwood, Jeffery A. Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War, Oxford University Press US, 2009, p. 203, (ISBN 0195333055).

Hay, Alastair. "A Magic Sword or a Big Itch: An Historical Look at the United States Biological Weapons Programme", 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).

[lockwood-1] Lockwood, Jeffery A. Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War, Oxford University Press US, 2009, p. 203, (ISBN 0195333055).

[1]

v t e United States biological weapons program
Weaponized agents	Anthrax Botulism Brucellosis Q fever Enterotoxin type B Rice blast Tularemia VEE Wheat stem rust
Researched agents	AHF BHF Bird flu CHIKV Dengue fever EEE Glanders Hantavirus Lassa fever Melioidosis VND Plague Potato blight Psittacosis Ricin RVF Rinderpest Smallpox Typhus WEE Yellow fever
Munitions	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 bomb
Operations and testing	Operation Sea-Spray 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
Facilities	U.S. Army Biological Warfare Labs Building 101 Building 257 Building 470 Deseret Test Center Dugway Proving Ground Fort Detrick Fort Douglas Fort Terry Granite Peak Installation Horn Island Testing Station One-Million-Liter Test Sphere Pine Bluff Arsenal Plum Island Animal Disease Center Vigo Ordnance Plant
Related topics	Biological agent Biological warfare Entomological warfare Soviet biological weapons program Korean War bio-warfare allegations List of topics U.S. biological weapons program U.S. biological defense program U.S. bio-weapons ban War Bureau of Consultants War Research Service

Operation Magic Sword

Operation

Results

See also

References

Further reading