Hermes was the Army's second missile program. In May 1944 the Army contracted with the California Institute of Technology's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratories to start the ORDCIT Project to research, test and develop guided missiles. The Hermes program originally was to have three phases; first would be a literature search, second a research group would be dispatched to Europe to investigate the German Missiles, third "it would design and develop its own experimental systems. Basically, this project covered every phase of missile technology with the exception of large-scale development and production of warheads and fuzes. However, ... these many areas may be grouped within three general categories, namely, the A1 and A2 missiles, the A3 missiles, and all other Hermes missiles and supporting research."