Robert Dautray (real name Ignatz Koushelewitz), a nuclear physicist, was selected by the CEA to lead the development effort to construct a two-stage weapon.

The device weighed three tons and used a lithium deuteride secondary stage with a highly enriched uranium jacket primary.

Fangataufa was selected as the location of the shot due to its isolation in respect to the main base on Mururoa.

A flotilla codenamed Alfa Force led by French aircraft carrier Clemenceau deployed to the south Pacific during the time of the test.

The naval force present around the two atolls massed more than 120,000 tons displacement and represented more than 40% of the tonnage of the entire French navy.