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Atomic Weapons Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield known by the acronym AWDREY was a desk-mounted automatic detection instrument, located at 13 of the 25 Royal Observer Corps (ROC) controls, across the United Kingdom, during the Cold War. The instruments would have detected any nuclear explosions and indicated the estimated size in megatons. With the display unit mounted in a steel cabinet, the system operated by measuring the level of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by any nuclear explosion. The instruments were in constant operation (state of readiness) between 1955 and 1992 and tested daily by full-time ROC officers. ==Operations== AWDREY was designed, built and maintained by the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston. The design was tested for performance and accuracy using real nuclear explosions at the 1957 Kiritimati (or Christmas Island) nuclear weapon trials, after being mounted on board a ship. Although a single AWDREY unit could not differentiate between the EMP from a nuclear explosion and a lightning strike, the units were installed sufficiently far apart that a lightning strike would not simultaneously register on two adjacent AWDREYs. The first two primary responsibilities of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO), for whom the ROC provided the field force were: * Warning the public of any air attack. (see Four-minute warning ) * Providing confirmation of nuclear strike on the UK. AWDREY was the principal method by which the UKWMO would achieve its second responsibility. Simultaneous responses on two or more AWDREY units would identify the explosion as a nuclear strike. ROC post bomb detection instruments (see Bomb Power Indicator ) operated by recording the peak overpressure of the blast wave from any nearby nuclear explosion. Any ultra-high-altitude nuclear explosion, designed to knock out the UK's communications and electronic equipment would not produce a detectable blast wave, and the AWDREY system was therefore the only method of identifying these bursts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Atomic Weapons Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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