In April 1946, Convair received a 1.9 million dollar contract from the US Government under Air Material Command designation Material, Experimental-774B (MX-774B) to investigate the development of ballistic missiles. This was one of a large number of missile projects being studied by the US Army at that time, which included both ballistic missiles and a variety of long-range cruise missiles as well. The original of MX-774B called for a missile that could deliver a payload , and which had an accuracy that allowed it to deliver it to within of the target. The MX-774B project was headed by Karel Bossart, who would go on to head the creation of the Atlas rockets. Although development of the specification MX-774B was inspired by the German V-2 the MX-774B introduced several significant innovations, such as an integrated propellant tank, swiveling engines, pressurized body, and detachable nose cone.