Project Brass Ring was a
1950 United States Air Force project designed to deliver an early
hydrogen bomb to within 2 miles of a target using a drone version of the
B-47 Stratojet. Brass Ring was meant to provide an interim
nuclear weapons delivery capability while more capable (and less costly) systems were under development. The fear and concern surrounding the
Soviet Union's development of its own nuclear weapons capability was the impetus to quickly begin the project.