Unofficially, the bomb would later become known as "Tsar Bomba" and " Kuzka's mother" ( Кузькина мать, Kuz'kina mat'). It has also been referred to as RDS-220 in a number of relatively recent western publications. The Tsar Bomba, being a modification of the RN202, is sometimes mistakenly labelled as RDS-37, RDS-202 or PH202 (product 202). The usage of different names can be a source of confusion. The bomb was officially known as "product 602" ( изделие 602) or "AN602", and codenamed "Ivan". The operability of the device, its safety in emergency situations, and the calculated energy release during an explosion must be confirmed. The development of new designs of nuclear and thermonuclear ammunition requires testing. For a comparative assessment, the weight of the warhead tested in 1964 by the UR-500 ICBM was 14 tonnes (15 short tons). Īlso, on 23 June 1960, the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued on the creation of a super-heavy ballistic missile N-1 (GRAU index – 11A52) with a warhead weighing 75 tonnes (83 short tons). The creation of the Tsar Bomba represented a bluff in order to maintain the concept of nuclear deterrence. Given the Soviet Union's actual strategic disadvantage in relation to America's nuclear weapons possessions, foreign policy and propaganda considerations during the leaderships of Georgy Malenkov and Nikita Khrushchev made a response to the perceived US nuclear blackmail imperative. The USSR was therefore not able to muster a possible realistic retaliatory nuclear strike against the US. Also, there were no effective means of delivering nuclear warheads to the US, both in the 1950s and in 1961. In the mid-1950s, the United States had an unconditional superiority over the USSR in nuclear weapons, although thermonuclear charges had already been created in the USSR at this time. A number of published books, even some authored by those involved in product development 602, contain inaccuracies that are replicated elsewhere, including wrongly identifying Tsar Bomba as RDS-202 or RN202. Tsar Bomba was a modification of an earlier project, RN202, which used a ballistic case of the same size but a very different internal mechanism. The remaining bomb casings are located at the Russian Atomic Weapon Museum in Sarov and the Museum of Nuclear Weapons, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute Of Technical Physics, in Snezhinsk. As only one bomb was built to completion, that capability has never been demonstrated. In theory, the bomb would have had a yield in excess of 100 Mt (418 PJ) if it had included the uranium-238 tamper which featured in the design but was omitted in the test to reduce radioactive fallout. As they had the instrumental data and access to the test site, their yield figure has been accepted as more accurate. The bhangmeter results and other data suggested the bomb yielded around 58 Mt (243 PJ), which was the accepted yield in technical literature until 1991, when Soviet scientists revealed that their instruments indicated a yield of 50 Mt (209 PJ). reconnaissance aircraft named "Speed Light Alpha" monitored the blast, coming close enough to have its antiradiation paint scorched. The detonation was monitored by United States intelligence agencies, via a KC-135A aircraft (Operation SpeedLight) in the area at the time. The bomb was dropped by parachute from a Tu-95V aircraft, and detonated autonomously 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above the cape Sukhoy Nos of Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya, 15 km (9.3 mi) from Mityushikha Bay, north of the Matochkin Strait. Tested on 30 October 1961, the test verified new design principles for high-yield thermonuclear charges, allowing, as its final report put it, the design of a nuclear device "of practically unlimited power". The project was ordered by Nikita Khrushchev in July 1961 as part of the Soviet resumption of nuclear testing after the Test Ban Moratorium, with the detonation timed to coincide with the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov oversaw the project at Arzamas-16, while the main work of design was by Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babayev, Yuri Smirnov, and Yuri Trutnev. ' Tsar bomb' code name: Ivan or Vanya), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |