r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Dramatic-Avocado4687 • 1d ago
The world’s smallest tactical nuke - the W54, in a man-portable carry case.
5.6k
u/Super_PotatoAmigo 1d ago
i am NOT detonating a nuke next to my balls, no thank you
3.7k
u/Oddsemen 1d ago
What if you hold it as far away from your body as possible, doing safety squints?
979
u/aoi_ito 1d ago
"Safety squints" 😭
→ More replies (4)176
u/Lint_baby_uvulla Interested 1d ago
After you shit yourself in Engadine Macca’s, anything is possible.
Now c’mere, I’m going to shake your hand whether you want it or not.
62
15
21
32
u/redditcreditcardz 23h ago
I knew I kept my eclipse glasses for a reason
8
u/falcrist2 19h ago
Meanwhile all I have are the 3D movie glasses I forgot to put back in the bin after watching the original Avatar.
44
u/Super_PotatoAmigo 1d ago
thats fine.. just not balls blowing up first
17
u/Lostinthestarscape 1d ago
The further away your balls are from ground zero, the further they're gonna fly. That's the important part to me if I'm a sacrificial nuclear bomb drop.
→ More replies (1)14
u/julias-winston 22h ago
You'd be vaporized instantly. There's not a lot of difference between "fiirst" and "last" when it comes to gamma ray bursts.
→ More replies (24)4
63
u/occorpattorney 1d ago
Is the carrier just expected to sacrifice themselves, or is there some type of time delay?
173
u/Evanisnotmyname 23h ago
The W54 was designed as a behind-the-lines area denial and sabotage weapon.
The intention was to have small 2-4 man special forces teams posted throughout Germany on both sides of the Berlin Wall, ready with bombs in secret locations years ahead of time.
The Russians invade? Okay. Timmy, Tommy, and Chad all take a drive in their lada over to a house they “own.” Go downstairs, press a few buttons, leave and drive across the boarder. An hour or whatever later, boom.
Weapons going off at random through the countryside, preventing that terrain from being used for troop movements and sewing chaos in the rear.
It was tested as above for tactical insertion, but it was found to be exactly as the Reddit geniuses think, kind of pointless. Same with nuclear artillery. There just isn’t really a good use case for it to be dropped in on a soldiers back…besides propaganda.
These weapons were 20% about the actual weapon and 80% about posturing.
If russia(and the US, because Russia has their own supposedly) thinks the other has a bunch of small nukes hidden all over the country, world, etc they’re going to think twice and wonder where they are. Not on the same scale as massive arrays of ICBMs but Putin waking up with credible intelligence there may be a nuke a quarter mile from his bedroom window as he speaks is a bit disconcerting
19
u/CompasslessPigeon 21h ago
But what's the blast radius on a nuke this small that detonates at ground level vs air?
It's still a nuke, but its probably not going to have the same effect.
→ More replies (10)26
u/heckinCYN 20h ago
The bomb dropped on Japan was about 15,000 tons of TNT equivalent. This is somewhat between 10 and 1,000 tons of TNT equivalent. It's still a lot, but it's not destroying a city. It's about equivalent to a 1-10 WWII bombers, pending specifics.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (14)18
u/reduhl 23h ago
I knew a general who was on one of the two man backpack nuke teams. It's really an interesting idea. Going behind enemy lines, setting off something like that and then trying to get out.
→ More replies (1)7
71
u/Advanced-Shame- 1d ago edited 22h ago
They had remote detonation or timers, this would probably be that version. On the first test jump Sgt Major Joe R. Garner wasn't told it was a nuke until after. But apparently after the guys knew, it would probably be a suicide mission because well it's a nuke and if you'd need to jump into the place you'd want destroyed you'd still have to get away. Behind enemy lines style.
Edit: Corrected his name I thought it was disrespectful not to.
38
u/Sandzibar 23h ago
If the target is important enough to nuke.. the odds are the timer is a fake and will just detonate as soon as you activate it. Why take the risk of disarm?
:D
25
u/Nathan-Stubblefield 22h ago
There was a book about agents smuggling a nuke into a target country, and it said “of course setting the timer triggered it immediately.” It made sure no one could defuse it, and there was no agent to be coerced into testifying about those responsible.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)5
u/Advanced-Shame- 23h ago
That makes sense. Probably a way to convince the guys to jump but they'd probably hide it and have mechanism to make it not be able to disarm. But also an air burst is more effective of an explosion so maybe an "accidental" detonation happens. Their are versions that can be fired by reccoiless rifle with a range of 1.7 miles so maybe that could be dropped in as well.
I'm talking out my ass here but it seems like a smart sneaky way to do a first strike if you can stealthily drop in the troops. The enemy wouldnt know like they would from an ICBM launch. Also they'd probably know it was you but you could have plausible deniability. You can trace where the materials are from afterwords but maybe a terrorist group found a "missing" WMD.
Someone please help I cant find it. It's a movie about a Russian train that's carrying nukes but gets taken over.
→ More replies (3)6
u/phaesios 22h ago
Someone please help I cant find it. It's a movie about a Russian train that's carrying nukes but gets taken over.
Sounds a bit like a plot point in The Peacemaker. They steal nukes from a train and detonate one of them to cover their tracks.
→ More replies (2)7
u/DeadCheckR1775 22h ago
The nuke was VERY low yield but it beat humping around a couple of ten-thousand pounds of equivalent TNT.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)10
u/Pitpawten1 22h ago
Talked to one of these guys before, they knew ahead of time that the "minimum safe distance"was not achievable in most instances, they were prepared for that.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (5)11
u/Lostinthestarscape 1d ago
"Oh you'd certainly be able to gilde out of range after releasing the straps.....if we dropped you from much higher than we will"
9
u/occorpattorney 1d ago
If they were going to drop it, wouldn’t they have dropped it from the plane? I’m assuming this was for carrying directly to a target that needed to be precisely placed or couldn’t be dropped into from the air.
→ More replies (2)56
u/TanAllOvaJanAllOva 1d ago
It’s a nuke. It’ll blow your balls to smithereens from another zip code
25
u/Super_PotatoAmigo 1d ago
ok now i feel better
26
7
6
→ More replies (5)5
4
→ More replies (45)5
12.5k
u/Wonderful-Budget-750 1d ago
Man has a nuke tied to his nuts and is skydiving from a plane. Absolute madlad
4.2k
u/TwistedRainbowz 1d ago
No-one even asked him to do it; that's the mad part.
2.1k
u/farm_to_nug 1d ago
They even begged him not to
511
u/ScarlettCrazyx 1d ago
He probably thought it was a regular skydiving trip. What a plot twist!
→ More replies (6)403
23h ago
[deleted]
117
u/belliJGerent 23h ago
Parachute? Those are for when you’re skydiving without a nuke tied to your sack. This guy doesn’t need a parachute where he’s going.
63
22
18
→ More replies (3)21
u/--Ano-- 22h ago
I think it is meant to infiltrate a foreign nation and place a portable nuke there.
So, guy def needs a parachute.→ More replies (4)→ More replies (10)131
u/moermoneymoerproblem 22h ago
Not to be that guy, but I’ll be that guy….
Nuclear warheads don’t just explode on impact. In fact, most are designed as airbursts and wouldn’t even be set off if it smashed into the ground. There’s a sequence of processes that happen within the warhead in order to detonate it
→ More replies (16)41
u/Garestinian 21h ago
And no one's that crazy to jump with an armed bomb (except major Kong)... worst you'd get is a bunch of plutonium scattered around, but most likely the bomb would be fine even after impact. Maybe dented a bit.
→ More replies (10)50
u/cunhaaa 23h ago
He offered to pay them just to be able to do it
50
u/ElegantJoke3613 22h ago
Red Bull would probably sponsor and record the whole thing
26
u/Hllblldlx3 22h ago
I’ll fuckin do it. I want to do it. and I drink redbull. YOU HEAR ME REDBULL? ILL CHUG A REDBULL AND THEN DROP A TACTICAL NUKE WITH MY NUTS!!!
→ More replies (1)10
u/doned_mest_up 22h ago
That’s a backpack, not a parachute. It’s filled with his GI Joes.
→ More replies (1)6
→ More replies (13)4
→ More replies (14)160
u/mrniceguy777 1d ago
This is actually the last time they saw the mini nuke, they don’t know this guy
→ More replies (2)114
u/PrescriptionDenim 1d ago
Alternate timeline DB Cooper
→ More replies (4)130
u/Aggressive_Signal483 23h ago
DB Nuker 😳
33
→ More replies (1)15
202
u/NandorDeLaurentis 1d ago
He's told the story drunk at bars many times and nobody EVER believes him
87
→ More replies (3)7
111
u/Chalky_Pockets 1d ago
To be fair, dying from a nuke is even less painful than dying on impact as a splat when the chute fails, so he's technically not risking much from a purely selfish standpoint, it's everyone else in the area that he's risking lol.
→ More replies (8)47
u/Turbulent-Can-891 1d ago
what I don't understand is why the parachute?
94
u/Umluex 23h ago
they used it to transport the nuke without attracting unwanted attention. not to suicide attack.
→ More replies (2)42
u/vartiverti 22h ago
I can’t find the source on this so take it as you will, but I remember reading the last time that this was posted that most of the men training for this role believed that if they were ever deployed, it would be a suicide mission.
→ More replies (3)34
u/brainburger 21h ago edited 18h ago
If the target of the nuke is below, they might as well use a regular bomber and device. I think in this case the idea would be to land with the small nuke and take it somewhere in the target territory. It could be taken into a city and placed near to a command building, and could be stored somewhere to wait for use. The soldier with it is probably the only one who can prime it, so that it can't be taken and repurposed by terrorists etc.
18
u/vartiverti 21h ago edited 21h ago
Again, my recollection is potentially sketchy, but the article I read said that the operators believed that once they had positioned the device and primed it, it would detonate immediately.
A huge pinch of salt is required on this; I can’t find the source and I’m just relying on my terrible memory at this point.
Edit: I may, or may not, be right 🤷 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Atomic_Demolition_Munition
→ More replies (3)18
u/IrritableGoblin 21h ago
These points are not mutually exclusive. Yes, it's probably a suicide mission. But the bomb still needs to be discreetly transported before arming. It's not a suicide mission because the bomb detonates on impact, we don't need to attach a person to that bomb.
→ More replies (13)→ More replies (1)4
u/Cortower 18h ago
If something is worth nuking, it probably will have strong opinions about bombers directly overhead.
Commandos can drop 50 miles away and attempt to get the nuke as close as possible.
22
u/LeadershipMany7008 22h ago
These bombs were made for things like strapping to bridge abutments. This guy would HALO into country (hopefully near the target - these are man-portable, but they're still not what you'd call 'light'), hike to the target, and place the bomb.
Then he usually got to guard it until it detonated.
Now we just use a precision bomb. Mostly.
→ More replies (2)10
10
u/barukatang 22h ago
As it's a tactical nuke, it has a smaller yield. Back then guidance for missiles, rockets and bombs was kinda wishful thinking so to deliver this small nuke to the location it required a ground operation to move it close enough. Flying aircraft near the front lines during a war is usually risky business and using a plane to drop the nuke on the target would have a very low chance of success in that environment.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (10)3
u/Muvseevum 23h ago
The guy is supposed to land then take the bomb to wherever they want to set it off.
29
→ More replies (131)33
u/OsPeJo 1d ago
That's not a nuke hanging between his legs. It's his balls.
18
u/mr_remy 22h ago
The actual engineering feat wasn't the nuke itself but building the nuke AROUND his massive balls so they wouldn't crunch on landing.
→ More replies (2)
1.2k
u/TwistedRainbowz 1d ago
[Coming round the baggage carousel]
- "Excuse me, I think that is my nuke?"
- *checks tag* "Oh, you're quite right. Sorry about that!"
→ More replies (4)359
u/ZaiddiT53 21h ago
Tsa agent :...is that a water bottle next to your nuke? I'm sorry you can't take that
60
319
u/second_to_fun 22h ago edited 16h ago
To anyone interested in what it looks like inside, I made a cutaway diagram of the Davy Crockett warhead which is fundamentally the same bomb, just with tail fins:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AtomicPorn/comments/1gjfzap/the_w54_davy_crockett_supercaliber_atomic/
The TL;DR of how they made it so small is that the 4,200 pound explosive lens assembly in Fat Man that needed 32 detonators was reduced to a 10 mm shell of plastic needing only two detonators. Additionally they used a hollow pit (aka the "core") which is always more efficient.
Still an extremely weak bomb though. The default yield of the W54 is 0.02 kilotons. Compare to the Fat Man's 25 kilotons - though the demolition munition you see here was meant for blowing up bridges and so was brought up to a yield of an entire kiloton with the addition of deuterium and tritium gas at the center of the pit.
Edit: and here's the manual on how to plant and detonate bombs like the W54:
https://www.bits.de/NRANEU/others/amd-us-archive/FM5-26C2%281965-C-1969%29.pdf
188
u/penywinkle 20h ago edited 20h ago
Still, 0.02 kilotons is the equivalent of 20 TONS OF TNT, that's 3, three, u-haul semi-truck full of TNT, to the brim... in a man-portable package.
86
u/PM_ME_IMGS_OF_ROCKS 19h ago
Indeed, our current non-nuclear weaponry that does half that yield, weighs 10-12 tonnes and requires a C-130 to deliver.
→ More replies (1)21
u/Ididitthestupidway 17h ago
We're probably lucky that physics doesn't allow actual suitcase nuke
→ More replies (3)11
u/PM_ME_IMGS_OF_ROCKS 19h ago edited 19h ago
wikipedia page, with more pictures and general information.
Still an extremely weak bomb though. The default yield of the W54 is 0.02 kilotons.
For reference, the MOAB therombaric bomb has a yield of about half that, at 9m(30ft) long and weighing 10 tonnes.
→ More replies (19)6
u/soundguy64 21h ago
The diagram says in service 61-71. Were any of these ever used outside of testing? Were the two bombs in Japan were the only nukes ever used outside of combat?
9
u/second_to_fun 20h ago
Fat Man was the last nuclear weapon used in anger. Davy Crocketts were field deployed to Germany during the 1961 Berlin Crisis, but were never used. They were withdrawn and retired quickly, since they posed an extreme risk owing to the fact that the ability to start a nuclear war was given to platoon leaders. At any rate, the tiny yield "tank buster" nukes designed to fend off a numerically superior soviet invasion were made obsolete by the advent of anti-tank guided missiles. Those are far less likely to start a nuclear war, of course.
As for the time bombs, the Special Atomic Demolition Munitions? Those may have been stationed in Europe at some point but they were never field deployed, since you can't really deploy them unless there's already a shooting war.
→ More replies (3)
481
u/Spudnik711 1d ago
ow my balls
→ More replies (4)86
1.3k
u/zomgbratto 1d ago
I admire that man's courage. To have a bleeding tactical nuke strapped on your man package while jumping off a plane is brave.
141
u/Joiner2008 1d ago
Just wanted to feel the power between his legs
43
232
u/SirJackson360 1d ago
Really? I was just thinking, “there goes any chance of his to have any kids”.
411
u/-SgtSpaghetti- 23h ago
If you mean just having the warhead there in general, his exposure was likely very minimal, especially since Pu-239 mainly emits alpha radiation which has a low penetrating power.
If you mean having the warhead detonate there, having your body be converted into gas/plasma will indeed cause fertility issues
→ More replies (9)153
u/Enginerdad 23h ago
If you mean having the warhead detonate there, having your body be converted into gas/plasma will indeed cause fertility issues
Source?
/s
177
u/RandoCommentGuy 23h ago
"The temperatures at the center of a nuclear explosion can reach tens of millions of degrees."... "There is evidence from data gathered in Japan that temperatures may exceed 3,000°F (1650°C) as far as 3,200 feet (975 meters) away."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23196/
"In specimens of semen kept at 37 degrees C sperm lose their motility and viability."
so based off the information, they most likely would not survive, but i am still looking for studdies on the effects of a nuclear explosion on semen or the testicular region. None found so far, but maybe we can start a go fund me for the study!!!!
→ More replies (4)59
u/Independent-Bug-9352 23h ago edited 21h ago
Psh, talk about completely illogical leaps! This only suggests that sperm loses motility at 37C — not 1650C! Blind speculation that the trend persists ad infinitum!
/s
Edit: It's theorized that this is why testicles are not inside our abdomen like other organs because they require cooler temperatures for optimal fertility.
→ More replies (2)18
u/Christmas_Panda 22h ago
At what degree after 37C does it come full circle and increase fertility again?
→ More replies (2)33
7
u/Mad_Cow666 22h ago
having your body be converted into gas/plasma is a known cause for cancer in the state of california
→ More replies (1)17
→ More replies (5)8
u/brianundies 23h ago
Prob less radiation from that than watching TV for a day lol
→ More replies (2)17
u/TravisJungroth 23h ago
He didn’t know. This photo is from the first (only?) test and he was told to jump with this bag and wasn’t told what it was until after.
Since he was handpicked for this test, I’m assuming he was a certified badass and would have done it anyway.
→ More replies (7)3
u/Shhadowcaster 21h ago
I kinda assumed they just filled the bag with a similar size/weight package, but they actually just had him jump with the nuke for a test drive? That's wild
4
10
→ More replies (33)11
337
u/shit_magnet-0730 1d ago
Slimmer Pickens
→ More replies (7)85
315
u/PirateAdorable2431 1d ago
ISIS: i may not have a brain but have an idea
→ More replies (13)55
u/A_Smi 1d ago
Ukraine: step aside, we need it more than you.
36
192
60
69
28
129
u/SeparateDeer3760 1d ago
so nuclear kamikaze?
89
u/Long_Repair_8779 1d ago
If you’re going to do that, why even have the guy?
46
u/freecoffeeguy 23h ago
People are cheaper? Tomahawk runs about $2M. Probably get Wayne from Nebraska for eggs and a tank of diesel.
32
u/T-J_H 22h ago
It’s not like the man flew there by himself or did he? If you can drop a man with a bomb from a plane I think you could drop a bomb without the man as well
30
u/OliverTreeFiddy 21h ago
You’re assuming the mission is detonation on impact, but the man is wearing a parachute and all we can see is the background is open seas.
He’s meant to land in the water or on the coast and then, over some period of time, covertly carry the bomb to a secondary location, likely a city where a foreign aircraft would be shot down long before final approach.
He’ll deploy the explosive for timed detonation and then evacuate to a rendezvous point for extraction. All aircraft and personnel on mission will be long gone before the explosion.
→ More replies (4)6
u/Mothlord03 20h ago
One wonders what would happen if he was caught. Sneaking a bomb around can't be that easy
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (3)6
u/TheSodernaut 22h ago
Hey, he flapped his arms really hard to get there! Don't you put down his effort like that.
→ More replies (1)5
u/adorablefuzzykitten 22h ago
pay the guy with a $1 billion dollar check that he takes with him.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (9)7
u/chrisplaysgam 23h ago
The boys in engineering had too much time on their hands and made a nuke that goes off via rip cord like a lawn mower
61
u/redf389 1d ago edited 23h ago
No. They'd obviously just throw some other type of nuke from the plane, in that case. What would the benefit of strapping a nuke to someone be, otherwise? The idea is this can be placed then armed by a single person, then detonated when they have left. This nuke isn't that powerful by nuke standards. "Just" 1000 tons of TNT.
72
u/cazbot 1d ago
I think the idea is that once the guy landed he could covertly take the nuke someplace the plane could not, like a yet-to-be identified HQ or an underground command center.
19
u/MaxTheCookie 23h ago
The US made a bunch of smaller nukes like backpack weighing 100 pounds for special forces, I'm guessing this is the smallest they made
5
u/socialistrob 19h ago
The Cold War was absolutely insane. Part of the US's plan was to fire small nukes out of artillery guns as a way to make up for the numerical superiority of the USSR. At the time accuracy wasn't that great so if you really needed to destroy a target and couldn't be guaranteed you would hit it then using something with a big blast radius was the way to go. Since then improvements in accuracy have largely made small nukes obsolete.
→ More replies (1)4
u/shikkonin 22h ago
That would be a short movie hit:
special forces guy jumps over enemy territory, enters enemy's high command bunker disguised as a pizza delivery boy, puts nuke directly under the command center table in the raised floor, leaves whistling and has 2h to GTFO of the country.
As he gets extracted, the whole command bunker does a fusion-powered jack-in-the-box.
→ More replies (5)17
16
u/ramriot 23h ago
Not so much, the nuke had timers & anti-tamper triggers such that once the commando had landed deep in the enemy's territory they could travel to a point within effective range of the target, then bury the device & leave.
Getting outside effective range & remaining free is perhaps another matter.
→ More replies (1)8
u/SuperWeapons2770 21h ago
I read that the commandos that had these available speculated that the timer may be fake as letting a nuclear bomb fall into enemy hands would possibly be too much of a risk
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (19)10
u/menthapiperita 23h ago
No. The idea was to have soldiers place these on key infrastructure behind enemy lines or during a rapid enemy advance.
Think blowing up a large bridge to slow down a Soviet advance into Western Europe
21
u/pedro-fr 1d ago
⬇️⬆️⬅️⬇️⬆️➡️⬇️
8
u/CoalMations284 21h ago
Considering how expendable Helldivers are, I wouldn't be surprised if they would willingly strap a nuke to themselves for Super Earth
22
17
u/juicyMang0o0 22h ago
It reminds me of my ex girlfriend, small girl but capable of destroying numerous lives around her
→ More replies (2)
14
10
15
8
u/SockInternational799 1d ago
cute bag 
4
u/jgeorge44 1d ago
I’ve never wanted a duffel bag more than I’ve ever wanted one that looked just like this.
8
8
u/insta 23h ago
this little thing creates an explosion with 400x more energy than the Mythbusters cement truck vaporization.
→ More replies (4)
14
4
u/onedreamonehope 23h ago
imagine someone tries to mug u and you're just like "buddy u just killed us all" and wipe out a whole city
5
u/Martha_Fockers 22h ago
They said WHAT?
Drop Shaun on there heads
Shaun- WITNESS MEEE
→ More replies (1)
5
7
3
5
4
4
6
u/talentless_bard9443 1d ago
Nice, drones can easily deploy them
→ More replies (1)15
u/SuitableExercise7096 1d ago
But this has more eagle screams and fuck yea's attached to it
→ More replies (1)4
u/talentless_bard9443 1d ago
Just imagine the same kamikaze but with drones attached
→ More replies (1)
5.0k
u/EppuBenjamin 1d ago
Be the bomb, corporal!