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The weapon is notable for being the smallest nuclear weapon in both weight and yield to have entered US service. It was a compact implosion device containing plutonium-239 as its fissile material, [1] and in its various versions and mods it had a yield of 10 to 1,000 tons of TNT (42 to 4,184 gigajoules).
The components of a B83 nuclear bomb used by the United States. This is a list of nuclear weapons listed according to country of origin, and then by type within the states. . The United States, Russia, China and India are known to possess a nuclear triad, being capable to deliver nuclear weapons by land, sea and
A tactical nuclear weapon, it was manufactured starting in 1963, and all units were retired in 1992. It was known as the XM454 AFAP (artillery fired atomic projectile) in US service. The weapon was 34 inches (86 cm) long and weighed 120 pounds (54 kg), and was produced in two versions; the Mod 0 and Mod 1. Declassified British document give the ...
Its explosive yield was extremely small for a nuclear weapon. [4] [5] In the mid-1970s, debate shifted from the possibility of developing such a device for the military to concerns over its possible use in nuclear terrorism. [6] The concept became a staple of the spy thriller genre in the later Cold War era. [7]
If a relatively junior officer in control of a small tactical nuclear weapon (e.g., the M29 Davy Crockett) were in imminent danger of being overwhelmed by enemy forces, he could request permission to fire it and, due to decentralized control of warhead authorization, his request might quickly be granted during a crisis.
The Davy Crockett Weapon System's use of depleted uranium in the spotting round led to concerns about troop exposure to the material. However, studies indicated that there was no risk of exposure to the material during use of the weapon. [3] As a nuclear munition, however, an exceptionally strong safety program was required.
Despite having an almost-exact explosive-yield and assembly method as Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon ever deployed in combat, the W9 nuclear artillery-shell test-fired during Operation Upshot-Knothole series of tests was far smaller and lighter than its predecessors; a result of the evolving efficiencies of new nuclear-weapon designs.
The USSR and United States nuclear weapon stockpiles throughout the Cold War until 2015, with a precipitous drop in total numbers following the end of the Cold War in 1991. Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are eliminated.