Basic Information
Timber Wind was a classified US military project started in 1987 to develop a nuclear thermal rocket. It was intended for use in launching Strategic Defense Initiative satellites such as the Brilliant Pebbles system. The proposed design achieved significant advances over previous NTR designs such as DUMBO, including a higher thrust/weight ratio and better exhaust velocity.
Its existence was made public by the Federation of American Scientists in 1992, as they believe it was improperly classified, a conclusion later upheld by the Department of Defense Inspector General. It was later folded into the Space Thermal Nuclear Propulsion program.
This project also spawned the related Project Pluto - a nuclear thermal ramjet designed to power a sort of cruise missile come RPV known as the SLAM1