Project Pluto: America’s Nuclear Ramjet and the Cold War’s Most Extreme Weapons Concept

Project Pluto emerged during the height of Cold War tensions, when the United States was exploring every possible method of maintaining strategic superiority over the Soviet Union. Launched on January 1, 1957, the project sought to create a Supersonic Low Altitude Missile (SLAM) powered by a nuclear ramjet engine. At a time when intercontinental ballistic…