The “Pocket” Of The Apocalypse. The miniature nuclear weapon

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"Карманный" Апокалипсис. Самое миниатюрное ядерное оружие

 Portable nuclear weapon that can fit in a small suitcase or backpack, for many years remained very popular stamp action-Packed fighters and political detectives. The combination of size, stealth and huge destructive power could turn one man into a walking bomb, capable to bring to their knees the whole state.

However, in reality, miniature nuclear weapons even existed, but a significant role has not played. In the presence of a ballistic missile, able to throw a combat load anywhere, “mini-bombs” were simply useless. RIA Novosti publishes a selection of the most interesting examples of compact nuclear weapons developed by the USA and the USSR during the cold war.

“Grenade suicide”

One of the most small and low-yield nuclear warheads became a U.S. ordnance M-388 recoilless for smooth-bore guns M-29 Davy Crockett, vaguely reminiscent of Soviet and Russian heavy machine grenade launchers SPG-9. This weapon, named after the American Explorer and politician of the XIX century, created in the 1950-ies to fight with tank armadas of the Soviet Union in Western Germany or on the Korean Peninsula. Structurally, the ammunition consisted of payload fairing, the hull, the four stabilizers and the warhead of subkiloton power — from 20 to 40 tons of TNT. The mass of the projectile was only 34.5 kilograms, length — 787 mm.

"Карманный" Апокалипсис. Самое миниатюрное ядерное оружие

Ammunition M388 Davy Crockett (USA)

Recoilless gun could shoot ammunition at a distance of four kilometers. The design of three. The fire was expected to be conducted with the tripod or with a special turret on an army jeep. The main drawback of the weapon was the extreme vulnerability of the calculation for the destructive factors of a nuclear explosion, mainly ionizing radiation. The minimum distance from the epicenter to guns should be of 700-800 meters. It is clear that the calculation immediately after the shot was loading all the equipment into the car and tried to get away as possible from this extremely uncomfortable position.

Sleeping power: the ultimate weapon, never tested in battle

In addition, the arrows remained vulnerable to conventional weapons of the enemy. Still four kilometers — the distance a small. Soviet tanks of that time could surely affect the calculation of high-explosive ammunition. Therefore, the mass distribution of “Davy Crockett” is not received. In 1956 it was made 2100 complexes. In battle, they have never been used and was decommissioned in the 1970-ies.

A cannon of mass destruction

All nuclear artillery munitions in the USSR, the smallest was 152-millimeter shell 3БВ3, adopted in 1981. Scientific supervisor of the project was the famous Soviet nuclear physicist with a “speaking” name Evgeny Zababakhin. His team managed to create a unique power and weight and size characteristics of the munition to withstand the overload artillery shots without damage and reduced effectiveness. It was developed in the lines of regular high-explosive shells for guns D-20, ML-20, self-propelled howitzers 2S3 “acacia”, 2S5 “Giatsint-s” coupled to “Hyacinth-B”. Thus, to make the probable enemy’s nuclear “hi” could the entire Soviet artillery of 152 mm caliber. Special finishing guns for shooting specailise not required.

"Карманный" Апокалипсис. Самое миниатюрное ядерное оружие

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Self-propelled artillery 2S3 “Akatsiya” at the exercises of artillery units

3БВ3 weighed 53 pounds, had a length of 774 mm and diameter of 152.4 mm. The power of the nuclear charge was 2.5 kilotons of TNT, and the range of aimed shot is around 17.4 kilometer. It is easy to imagine what damage could cause a single volley of an artillery division armed with such missiles. However, in the early 1990-ies in accordance with the obligations under the Soviet-American INF Treaty nuclear artillery shells was eliminated both the USSR and the USA.

Backpack with a “surprise”

And the United States, and the Soviet Union in the cold war years was developing a portable low-yield nuclear bombs. Both sides were preparing for a sharp aggravation military-political situation in Western Europe and considered all the options, how to slow down the advance of the enemy in case of attack. Portable nuclear warheads was planned to equip the special sabotage and reconnaissance groups, who were instructed secretly to deliver these bombs on enemy territory and to undermine the control points, bridges, missile silos, airfields. This weapon could be used to create zones of destruction, rubble, fires, flooding, and radioactive contamination.

"Карманный" Апокалипсис. Самое миниатюрное ядерное оружие

 

Portable nuclear bomb SADM backpack with a W54 warhead (USA)

The first American portable charges weighed from 159 to 770 pounds, which impeded their portability manually. However, this issue was solved from 1964 to 1967 were developed four types of munition SADM. It was a cylinder with a diameter of 40 centimeters and a height of 60 cm and weighing 68 kilograms. The capacity varied from 10 tons to kilotons. Carrying charge used a special backpack container. The weight of such a trained commando could carry for a long time, and when tired, the baton was intercepted by his colleague. Act saboteurs had pairs. It was supposed to throw the group to the mining area of the parachute. One soldier sets up a mine, the second covers. Use the SADM was assumed in the first place in places where they were able to quickly evacuate the commandos.

A similar weapon was and in the USSR, where from 1967 to 1993 there was a special small nuclear mines РА41, РА47, РА97 and RA115. In addition, the weapons were so-called “nuclear backpacks” OC-6 weight of 25 kg and a capacity of up to kilotons. And to deal with saboteurs of the enemy in 1972 the member countries of the Warsaw Pact was organized in special platoons of the reconnaissance and destruction of nuclear bombs. The staff knew the structure of the American munitions disposal equipment for their search and neutralization.

Death aviation

In 1961, the U.S. air force has accepted into service its only a missile “air — air” with a nuclear warhead AIM-26 Falcon. At that time, fighters could not effectively deal with supersonic aircraft of the Soviet Union on a collision course with missile weapons due to the imperfections of the guidance system. And the use of a nuclear charge is allowed to destroy the target even if it misses in a few hundred meters. The US air force wanted a missile with semi-active radar-guided, able to hit supersonic bombers in a frontal attack. As technological capabilities to this point allowed easily install a nuclear warhead in the case of a conventional AIM-4, development took place without any difficulties.

 

Missile length was 2.1 meters, a diameter of 290 mm and a total weight of 92 kilograms. The power of a nuclear warhead — 250 tons. The speed of flight of the “Falcon” has exceeded 2,3 thousand kilometers per hour. Practice has shown that the AIM-26 was not a very reliable weapon. System of the rocket was prone to frequent failures, the device was quite capricious and difficult to maintain because of the nuclear warhead. The pilots did not consider the AIM-26 a valuable and effective means of destruction. In 1971, the last AIM-76 was decommissioned.

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