Explosion of a hydrogen bomb in water. How does a hydrogen bomb work?

The atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb are powerful weapons that use nuclear reactions as a source of explosive energy. Scientists first developed nuclear weapons technology during World War II.

Atomic bombs have only been used twice in actual war, both times by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II. The war was followed by a period of nuclear proliferation, and during the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union battled for dominance in the global nuclear arms race.

What is a hydrogen bomb, how does it work, the principle of operation of a thermonuclear charge and when were the first tests carried out in the USSR - is written below.

How does an atomic bomb work?

After German physicists Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann discovered the phenomenon of nuclear fission in Berlin in 1938, the possibility of creating weapons of extraordinary power arose.

When an atom of radioactive material splits into lighter atoms, there is a sudden, powerful release of energy.

The discovery of nuclear fission opened up the possibility of using nuclear technology, including weapons.

An atomic bomb is a weapon that derives its explosive energy only from a fission reaction.

The operating principle of a hydrogen bomb or thermonuclear charge is based on a combination of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion is another type of reaction in which lighter atoms combine to release energy. For example, as a result of a nuclear fusion reaction, a helium atom is formed from deuterium and tritium atoms, releasing energy.

Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was the code name for the American project to develop a practical atomic bomb during World War II. The Manhattan Project was started as a response to the efforts of German scientists who had been working on weapons using nuclear technology since the 1930s.

On December 28, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Manhattan Project to bring together various scientists and military officials working on nuclear research.

Much of the work was done at Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the direction of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

On July 16, 1945, in a remote desert location near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first atomic bomb, equivalent in power to 20 kilotons of TNT, was successfully tested. The explosion of the hydrogen bomb created a huge mushroom-shaped cloud about 150 meters high and ushered in the atomic age.

The only photo of the world's first atomic explosion, taken by American physicist Jack Aebi

Baby and Fat Man

Scientists at Los Alamos had developed two different types of atomic bombs by 1945—a uranium-based weapon called "Baby" and a plutonium-based weapon called "Fat Man."

While the war in Europe ended in April, fighting in the Pacific continued between Japanese and US forces.

In late July, President Harry Truman called for Japan's surrender in the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration promised "swift and complete destruction" if Japan did not surrender.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped its first atomic bomb from a B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

The explosion of "Baby" corresponded to 13 kilotons of TNT, leveled five square miles of the city and instantly killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands of people would later die from radiation exposure.

The Japanese continued to fight, and the United States dropped a second atomic bomb three days later on the city of Nagasaki. The Fat Man explosion killed about 40,000 people.

Citing the destructive power of the "new and most brutal bomb", Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his country's surrender on August 15, ending World War II.

Cold War

In the postwar years, the United States was the only country with nuclear weapons. At first, the USSR did not have enough scientific developments and raw materials to create nuclear warheads.

But, thanks to the efforts of Soviet scientists, intelligence data and the discovery of regional sources of uranium in Eastern Europe, on August 29, 1949, the USSR tested its first nuclear bomb. The hydrogen bomb device was developed by Academician Sakharov.

From atomic weapons to thermonuclear weapons

The United States responded in 1950 by launching a program to develop more advanced thermonuclear weapons. The Cold War arms race began, and nuclear testing and research became large-scale targets for several countries, especially the United States and the Soviet Union.

this year, the United States detonated a thermonuclear bomb with a yield of 10 megatons of TNT

1955 - The USSR responded with its first thermonuclear test - only 1.6 megatons. But the main successes of the Soviet military-industrial complex were ahead. In 1958 alone, the USSR tested 36 nuclear bombs of various classes. But nothing the Soviet Union experienced compares to the Tsar Bomb.

Test and first explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR

On the morning of October 30, 1961, a Soviet Tu-95 bomber took off from Olenya airfield on the Kola Peninsula in the far north of Russia.

The plane was a specially modified version that had entered service several years ago - a huge four-engine monster tasked with carrying the Soviet nuclear arsenal.

Modified version of the TU-95 "Bear", specially prepared for the first test of the hydrogen Tsar Bomb in the USSR

The Tu-95 carried a huge 58-megaton bomb, a device too large to fit inside the aircraft's bomb bay, where such munitions were typically carried. The 8 m long bomb had a diameter of about 2.6 m and weighed more than 27 tons and remained in history with the name Tsar Bomba - “Tsar Bomba”.

The Tsar Bomba was not an ordinary nuclear bomb. It was the result of intense efforts by Soviet scientists to create the most powerful nuclear weapons.

Tupolev reached his target point - Novaya Zemlya, a sparsely populated archipelago in the Barents Sea, above the frozen northern edges of the USSR.

The Tsar Bomba exploded at 11:32 Moscow time. The results of testing a hydrogen bomb in the USSR demonstrated the entire range of damaging factors of this type of weapon. Before answering the question of what is more powerful, an atomic or a hydrogen bomb, you should know that the power of the latter is measured in megatons, while for atomic bombs it is measured in kilotons.

Light radiation

In the blink of an eye, the bomb created a fireball seven kilometers wide. The fireball pulsed from the force of its own shock wave. The flash could be seen thousands of kilometers away - in Alaska, Siberia and Northern Europe.

Shock wave

The consequences of the explosion of the hydrogen bomb on Novaya Zemlya were catastrophic. In the village of Severny, about 55 km from Ground Zero, all houses were completely destroyed. It was reported that on Soviet territory, hundreds of kilometers from the explosion zone, everything was damaged - houses were destroyed, roofs fell, doors were damaged, windows were destroyed.

The range of a hydrogen bomb is several hundred kilometers.

Depending on the charge power and damaging factors.

The sensors recorded the blast wave as it circled the Earth not once, not twice, but three times. The sound wave was recorded near Dikson Island at a distance of about 800 km.

Electromagnetic pulse

Radio communication throughout the Arctic was disrupted for more than an hour.

Penetrating radiation

The crew received a certain dose of radiation.

Radioactive contamination of the area

The explosion of the Tsar Bomba on Novaya Zemlya turned out to be surprisingly “clean”. The testers arrived at the explosion point two hours later. The radiation level in this place did not pose a great danger - no more than 1 mR/hour within a radius of only 2-3 km. The reasons were the design features of the bomb and the explosion at a sufficiently large distance from the surface.

Thermal radiation

Despite the fact that the carrier aircraft, coated with a special light- and heat-reflecting paint, went 45 km away at the moment the bomb exploded, it returned to base with significant thermal damage to the skin. In an unprotected person, the radiation would cause third-degree burns at a distance of up to 100 km.

	The mushroom after the explosion is visible at a distance of 160 km, the diameter of the cloud at the time of shooting is 56 km
	Flash from the explosion of the Tsar Bomba, about 8 km in diameter

The principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb

Hydrogen bomb device.

The primary stage acts as a switch - trigger. The plutonium fission reaction in the trigger initiates a thermonuclear fusion reaction in the secondary stage, at which the temperature inside the bomb instantly reaches 300 million °C. A thermonuclear explosion occurs. The first test of a hydrogen bomb shocked the world community with its destructive power.

Video of an explosion at a nuclear test site

On October 30, 1961, the most powerful explosion in human history occurred at the Soviet nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya. The nuclear mushroom rose to a height of 67 kilometers, and the diameter of the “cap” of this mushroom was 95 kilometers. The shock wave circled the globe three times (and the blast wave demolished wooden buildings at a distance of several hundred kilometers from the test site). The flash of the explosion was visible from a distance of a thousand kilometers, despite the fact that thick clouds hung over Novaya Zemlya. For almost an hour, there was no radio communication throughout the entire Arctic. The power of the explosion, according to various sources, ranged from 50 to 57 megatons (million tons of TNT).

However, as Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev joked, they did not increase the power of the bomb to 100 megatons, only because in this case all the windows in Moscow would have been broken. But every joke has its share of a joke - the original plan was to detonate a 100 megaton bomb. And the explosion on Novaya Zemlya convincingly proved that creating a bomb with a capacity of at least 100 megatons, at least 200, is a completely feasible task. But 50 megatons is almost ten times the power of all the ammunition expended during the entire Second World War by all participating countries. Moreover, in the event of testing a product with a capacity of 100 megatons, only a melted crater would remain from the test site on Novaya Zemlya (and most of this island). In Moscow, the glass most likely would have survived, but in Murmansk they could have been blown out.

Model of a hydrogen bomb. Historical and Memorial Museum of Nuclear Weapons in Sarov

The device, detonated at an altitude of 4200 meters above sea level on October 30, 1961, went down in history under the name “Tsar Bomba”. Another unofficial name is “Kuzkina Mother”. But the official name of this hydrogen bomb was not so loud - the modest product AN602. This miracle weapon had no military significance - not in tons of TNT equivalent, but in ordinary metric tons, the “product” weighed 26 tons and it would have been problematic to deliver it to the “addressee”. It was a show of force - clear proof that the Soviet Union was capable of creating weapons of mass destruction of any power. What made the leadership of our country take such an unprecedented step? Of course, nothing more than a worsening of relations with the United States. More recently, it seemed that the United States and the Soviet Union had reached mutual understanding on all issues - in September 1959, Khrushchev visited the United States on an official visit, and a return visit to Moscow by President Dwight Eisenhower was also planned. But on May 1, 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over Soviet territory. In April 1961, American intelligence agencies organized the landing of well-prepared and trained Cuban emigrants in the Bay of Playa Giron (this adventure ended in a convincing victory for Fidel Castro). In Europe, the great powers could not decide on the status of West Berlin. As a result, on August 13, 1961, the capital of Germany was blocked by the famous Berlin Wall. Finally, in 1961, the United States deployed PGM-19 Jupiter missiles in Turkey - European Russia (including Moscow) was within range of these missiles (a year later, the Soviet Union would deploy missiles in Cuba and the famous Cuban Missile Crisis would begin). This is not to mention the fact that there was no parity in the number of nuclear charges and their carriers between the Soviet Union and America at that time - we could counter 6 thousand American warheads with only three hundred. So, the demonstration of thermonuclear power was not at all superfluous in the current situation.

Soviet short film about the testing of the Tsar Bomba

There is a popular myth that the superbomb was developed on Khrushchev’s orders in the same 1961 in record time - in just 112 days. In fact, the development of the bomb began in 1954. And in 1961, the developers simply brought the existing “product” to the required power. At the same time, the Tupolev Design Bureau was modernizing Tu-16 and Tu-95 aircraft for new weapons. According to initial calculations, the weight of the bomb should have been at least 40 tons, but aircraft designers explained to nuclear scientists that at the moment there are no carriers for a product with such a weight and there cannot be. Nuclear scientists promised to reduce the weight of the bomb to a quite acceptable 20 tons. True, such weight and such dimensions required a complete rework of the bomb compartments, fastenings, and bomb bays.

Hydrogen bomb explosion

Work on the bomb was carried out by a group of young nuclear physicists under the leadership of I.V. Kurchatova. This group also included Andrei Sakharov, who at that time had not yet thought about dissent. Moreover, he was one of the leading developers of the product.

Such power was achieved through the use of a multi-stage design - a uranium charge with a power of “only” one and a half megatons launched a nuclear reaction in a second-stage charge with a power of 50 megatons. Without changing the dimensions of the bomb, it was possible to make it three-stage (this is already 100 megatons). Theoretically, the number of stage charges could be unlimited. The design of the bomb was unique for its time.

Khrushchev hurried the developers - in October, the 22nd Congress of the CPSU was taking place in the newly built Kremlin Palace of Congresses, and the news about the most powerful explosion in the history of mankind should have been announced from the rostrum of the congress. And on October 30, 1961, Khrushchev received a long-awaited telegram signed by the Minister of Medium Engineering E.P. Slavsky and Marshal of the Soviet Union K.S. Moskalenko (test leaders):

"Moscow. The Kremlin. N.S. Khrushchev.

The test on Novaya Zemlya was successful. The safety of testers and the surrounding population is ensured. The training ground and all participants completed the task of the Motherland. We're going back to the convention."

The explosion of the Tsar Bomba almost immediately served as fertile ground for all sorts of myths. Some of them were distributed ... by the official press. So, for example, Pravda called the Tsar Bomba nothing less than yesterday’s day of atomic weapons and argued that more powerful charges had already been created. There were also rumors about a self-sustaining thermonuclear reaction in the atmosphere. The reduction in the power of the explosion, according to some, was caused by the fear of splitting the earth's crust or...causing a thermonuclear reaction in the oceans.

But be that as it may, a year later, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States still had an overwhelming superiority in the number of nuclear warheads. But they never decided to use them.

In addition, the mega-explosion is believed to have helped move forward the three-medium nuclear test ban negotiations that had been going on in Geneva since the late fifties. In 1959-60, all nuclear powers, with the exception of France, accepted a unilateral refusal to test while these negotiations were ongoing. But we talked below about the reasons that forced the Soviet Union not to comply with its obligations. After the explosion on Novaya Zemlya, negotiations resumed. And on October 10, 1963, the “Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, Outer Space and Under Water” was signed in Moscow. As long as this Treaty is respected, the Soviet Tsar Bomba will remain the most powerful explosive device in human history.

Modern computer reconstruction

The geopolitical ambitions of major powers always lead to an arms race. The development of new military technologies gave one country or another an advantage over others. Thus, with leaps and bounds, humanity approached the emergence of terrible weapons - nuclear bomb. From what date did the report of the atomic era begin, how many countries on our planet have nuclear potential, and what is the fundamental difference between a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb? You can find the answer to these and other questions by reading this article.

What is the difference between a hydrogen bomb and a nuclear bomb?

Any nuclear weapon based on intranuclear reaction, the power of which is capable of almost instantly destroying a large number of living units, as well as equipment, and all kinds of buildings and structures. Let's consider the classification of nuclear warheads in service with some countries:

• Nuclear (atomic) bomb. During the nuclear reaction and fission of plutonium and uranium, energy is released on a colossal scale. Typically, one warhead contains two plutonium charges of the same mass, which explode away from each other.
• Hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb. Energy is released based on the fusion of hydrogen nuclei (hence the name). The intensity of the shock wave and the amount of energy released exceeds atomic energy by several times.

What is more powerful: a nuclear or a hydrogen bomb?

While scientists were puzzling over how to use the atomic energy obtained in the process of thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen for peaceful purposes, the military had already conducted more than a dozen tests. It turned out that charge in a few megatons of a hydrogen bomb are thousands of times more powerful than an atomic bomb. It’s even difficult to imagine what would have happened to Hiroshima (and indeed to Japan itself) if there had been hydrogen in the 20-kiloton bomb thrown at it.

Consider the powerful destructive force that results from a 50 megaton hydrogen bomb explosion:

• Fireball: diameter 4.5 -5 kilometers in diameter.
• sound wave: The explosion can be heard from 800 kilometers away.
• Energy: from the released energy, a person can get burns to the skin, being up to 100 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion.
• nuclear mushroom: height is more than 70 km in height, the radius of the cap is about 50 km.

Atomic bombs of such power have never been detonated before. There are indicators of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, but its size was significantly inferior to the hydrogen discharge described above:

• Fireball: diameter about 300 meters.
• nuclear mushroom: height 12 km, cap radius - about 5 km.
• Energy: the temperature at the center of the explosion reached 3000C°.

Now in the arsenal of nuclear powers are namely hydrogen bombs. In addition to the fact that they are ahead in their characteristics of their " little brothers", they are much cheaper to produce.

The principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb

Let's look at it step by step, stages of detonating hydrogen bombs:

1. Charge detonation. The charge is in a special shell. After detonation, neutrons are released and the high temperature required to begin nuclear fusion in the main charge is created.
2. Lithium fission. Under the influence of neutrons, lithium splits into helium and tritium.
3. Fusion. Tritium and helium trigger a thermonuclear reaction, as a result of which hydrogen enters the process, and the temperature inside the charge instantly increases. A thermonuclear explosion occurs.

The principle of operation of an atomic bomb

1. Charge detonation. The bomb shell contains several isotopes (uranium, plutonium, etc.), which decay under the detonation field and capture neutrons.
2. Avalanche process. The destruction of one atom initiates the decay of several more atoms. There is a chain process that entails the destruction of a large number of nuclei.
3. nuclear reaction. In a very short time, all parts of the bomb form one whole, and the mass of the charge begins to exceed the critical mass. A huge amount of energy is released, after which an explosion occurs.

The danger of nuclear war

Even in the middle of the last century, the danger of nuclear war was unlikely. Two countries had atomic weapons in their arsenal - the USSR and the USA. The leaders of the two superpowers were well aware of the danger of using weapons of mass destruction, and the arms race was most likely conducted as a “competitive” confrontation.

Of course, there were tense moments in relation to the powers, but common sense always prevailed over ambitions.

The situation changed at the end of the 20th century. The “nuclear baton” was seized not only by the developed countries of Western Europe, but also by representatives of Asia.

But, as you probably know, " nuclear club"consists of 10 countries. It is unofficially believed that Israel, and possibly Iran, have nuclear warheads. Although the latter, after economic sanctions were imposed on them, abandoned the development of the nuclear program.

After the appearance of the first atomic bomb, scientists in the USSR and the USA began to think about weapons that would not cause such great destruction and contamination of enemy territories, but would have a targeted effect on the human body. The idea arose about creation of a neutron bomb.

The operating principle is interaction of neutron flux with living flesh and military equipment. The more radioactive isotopes produced instantly destroy a person, and tanks, transporters and other weapons become sources of strong radiation for a short time.

A neutron bomb explodes at a distance of 200 meters to ground level, and is especially effective during an enemy tank attack. The armor of military equipment, 250 mm thick, is capable of reducing the effects of a nuclear bomb several times, but is powerless against the gamma radiation of a neutron bomb. Let's consider the effects of a neutron projectile with a power of up to 1 kiloton on a tank crew:

As you understand, the difference between a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb is enormous. The difference in the nuclear fission reaction between these charges makes a hydrogen bomb is hundreds of times more destructive than an atomic bomb.

When using a 1 megaton thermonuclear bomb, everything within a radius of 10 kilometers will be destroyed. Not only buildings and equipment will suffer, but also all living things.

The heads of nuclear countries should remember this, and use the “nuclear” threat solely as a deterrent tool, and not as an offensive weapon.

Video about the differences between the atomic and hydrogen bombs

This video will describe in detail and step by step the principle of operation of an atomic bomb, as well as the main differences from the hydrogen one:

Reading time:

Everyone has already discussed one of the most unpleasant news of December - North Korea's successful testing of a hydrogen bomb. Kim Jong-un did not fail to hint (directly state) that he was ready at any moment to transform weapons from defensive to offensive, which caused an unprecedented stir in the press around the world.

However, there were also optimists who declared that the tests were falsified: they say that the shadow of the Juche is falling in the wrong direction, and somehow the radioactive fallout is not visible. But why is the presence of a hydrogen bomb in the aggressor country such a significant factor for free countries, since even nuclear warheads, which North Korea has in abundance, have never scared anyone so much?

What is this

The hydrogen bomb, also known as the Hydrogen Bomb or HB, is a weapon of incredible destructive power, whose power is measured in megatons of TNT. The principle of operation of HB is based on the energy that is generated during thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei - exactly the same process occurs in the Sun.

How is a hydrogen bomb different from an atomic bomb?

Nuclear fusion, the process that occurs during the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, is the most powerful type of energy available to humanity. We have not yet learned how to use it for peaceful purposes, but we have adapted it for military purposes. This thermonuclear reaction, similar to what can be seen in stars, releases an incredible flow of energy. In atomic energy, energy is obtained from the fission of the atomic nucleus, so the explosion of an atomic bomb is much weaker.

First test

And the Soviet Union was once again ahead of many participants in the Cold War race. The first hydrogen bomb, manufactured under the leadership of the brilliant Sakharov, was tested at the secret Semipalatinsk test site - and, to put it mildly, they impressed not only scientists, but also Western spies.

Shock wave

The direct destructive effect of a hydrogen bomb is a powerful, highly intense shock wave. Its power depends on the size of the bomb itself and the height at which the charge detonated.

Thermal effect

A hydrogen bomb of only 20 megatons (the size of the largest bomb tested so far is 58 megatons) creates a huge amount of thermal energy: concrete melted within a radius of five kilometers from the test site of the projectile. Within a nine-kilometer radius, all living things will be destroyed; neither equipment nor buildings will survive. The diameter of the crater formed by the explosion will exceed two kilometers, and its depth will fluctuate about fifty meters.

Fireball

The most spectacular thing after the explosion will seem to observers to be a huge fireball: flaming storms initiated by the detonation of a hydrogen bomb will support themselves, drawing more and more flammable material into the funnel.

Radiation contamination

But the most dangerous consequence of the explosion will, of course, be radiation contamination. The disintegration of heavy elements in a raging fiery whirlwind will fill the atmosphere with tiny particles of radioactive dust - it is so light that when it enters the atmosphere, it can circle the globe two or three times and only then fall out in the form of precipitation. Thus, one explosion of a 100 megaton bomb could have consequences for the entire planet.

Tsar Bomba

58 megatons - that's how much the largest hydrogen bomb, exploded at the test site of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, weighed. The shock wave circled the globe three times, forcing the opponents of the USSR to once again become convinced of the enormous destructive power of this weapon. Veselchak Khrushchev joked at the plenum that they didn’t make another bomb only for fear of breaking the glass in the Kremlin.

I realized that bombs rust. Even atomic ones. Although this expression should not be taken literally, this is the general meaning of what is happening. For a number of natural reasons, complex weapons lose their original properties over time to such an extent that very serious doubts arise about their operation, if it comes to that. A clear example of this is the current story with the American B61 thermonuclear bomb, the situation with which has become generally confusing and, in part, even comical in some places. Manufacturers of nuclear warheads on both sides of the ocean provide the same warranty period for their products - 30 years.

Since we are unlikely to be talking about a corporate conspiracy of monopolists, it is obvious that the problem is in the laws of physics. This is how the author describes it.

The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) posted on its website a message about the start of engineering preparations for the production of the modernized thermonuclear bomb B61-12, which is a further modification of the B61 “product” that entered the US arsenal from 1968 to the end of the 1990s and constitutes today, on a par with Tomahawk cruise missiles, the backbone of American tactical nuclear power. As NNSA head Frank Klotz noted, this will extend the life of the system by at least another 20 years, i.e. until approximately 2040 - 2045.

Is it any wonder that journalists immediately made a fuss about this? What about the recently adopted bill in the United States banning the development of new types of nuclear weapons? But what about the terms of the START III treaty? True, there were also those who tried to link Klotz’s statement with the Russian statement made back in 2011 about the start of large-scale work to modernize its nuclear arsenal. True, there was talk not so much about the creation of new warheads, but about the development of new carriers, for example, fifth-generation intercontinental ballistic missiles Rubezh and Sarmat, the Barguzin railway complex, the Bulava sea-based missile and the construction of eight submarine cruisers. Borey." But who cares about such subtleties now? Moreover, tactical nuclear weapons still do not fall under the terms of START III. And, by and large, everything listed has a very indirect relationship to the root cause of history. The original motive lies, as already said, primarily in the laws of physics.

The history of the B61 began in 1963 with the TX-61 project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Mathematical modeling of the implementation of the concept of using nuclear weapons that was dominant at that time showed that even after massive nuclear strikes with ballistic missile warheads, a mass of important and well-protected objects will remain on the battlefield, relying on which the enemy (we all well understand who they had in mind) will be able to continue waging the big war. The US Air Force needed a tactical tool to “target”, so to speak, buried command and control bunkers, underground fuel storage facilities, or other sites such as the famous underground submarine base in Crimea, using low-yield above-ground nuclear explosions. Well, as small as “from 0.3 kilotons.” And up to 170 kilotons, but more on that below.

The product went into production in 1968 and received the official name B61. During the entire production period, in all modifications, the Americans churned out 3,155 of these bombs. And from this moment the current story itself begins, since today out of the entire three-thousand-strong arsenal there are only “survivors”: 150 “strategic” and about 400 “tactical” bombs, as well as about another 200 “tactical” products are kept in reserve. That's all. Where did the rest go? It’s quite appropriate to joke - they’re completely rusty - and it won’t be that much of a joke.

The B61 bomb is a thermonuclear bomb, or as they are not entirely correct, but often called hydrogen. Its destructive effect is based on the use of the nuclear fusion reaction of light elements into heavier ones (for example, producing one helium atom from two deuterium atoms), which releases a huge amount of energy. Theoretically, it is possible to launch such a reaction in liquid deuterium, but this is difficult from a design point of view. Although the first test explosions at the test site were carried out this way. But it was possible to obtain a product that could be delivered to the target by plane only thanks to the combination of a heavy isotope of hydrogen (deuterium) and an isotope of lithium with a mass number of 6, known today as lithium deuteride -6. In addition to its “nuclear” properties, its main advantage is that it is solid and allows deuterium to be stored at positive ambient temperatures. Actually, it was with the advent of affordable 6Li that the opportunity arose to put it into practice in the form of a weapon.

The American thermonuclear bomb is based on the Teller-Ulam principle. With a certain degree of convention, it can be imagined as a durable case, inside of which there is an initiating trigger and a container with thermonuclear fuel. The trigger, or in our opinion a detonator, is a small plutonium charge, the task of which is to create the initial conditions for starting a thermonuclear reaction - high temperature and pressure. The “thermonuclear container” contains lithium-6 deuteride and a plutonium rod located strictly along the longitudinal axis, which plays the role of a fuse for a thermonuclear reaction. The container itself (can be made of either uranium-238 or lead) is coated with boron compounds to protect the contents from premature heating by the neutron flux from the trigger. The accuracy of the relative position of the trigger and the container is extremely important, therefore, after assembling the product, the internal space is filled with special plastic that conducts radiation, but at the same time ensures reliable fixation during storage and before the detonation stage.

When the trigger is triggered, 80% of its energy is released in the form of a pulse of so-called soft X-rays, which is absorbed by the plastic and shell of the “thermonuclear” container. As the process progresses, both are transformed into a high-temperature, high-pressure plasma that compresses the contents of the container to less than a thousandth of its original volume. Thus, the plutonium rod goes into a supercritical state, becoming the source of its own nuclear reaction. The destruction of plutonium nuclei creates a neutron flux, which, interacting with lithium-6 nuclei, releases tritium. It already interacts with deuterium and the same fusion reaction begins, releasing the main energy of the explosion.

A: Warhead before explosion; the first step is at the top, the second step is at the bottom. Both components of a thermonuclear bomb.
B: The explosive detonates the first stage, compressing the plutonium core to a supercritical state and initiating a fission chain reaction.
C: During the cleavage process, the first stage produces a pulse of X-ray radiation that travels along the inside of the shell, penetrating the polystyrene foam core.
D: The second stage contracts due to ablation (evaporation) under the influence of X-rays, and the plutonium rod inside the second stage goes into a supercritical state, initiating a chain reaction, releasing enormous amounts of heat.
E: In compressed and heated lithium-6 deuteride, a fusion reaction occurs, the emitted neutron flux initiates the tamper splitting reaction. The fireball expands...

Well, until it all goes boom, the thermonuclear B61 is a familiar-looking “bomb-shaped piece of iron” with a length of 3.58 meters and a diameter of 33 cm, consisting of several parts. The nose cone contains control electronics. Behind it is a compartment with a charge that looks like a completely inconspicuous metal cylinder. Then there is a relatively small compartment with electronics and a tail with rigidly fixed stabilizers, containing a braking stabilizing parachute to slow down the speed of fall so that the plane that dropped the bomb has time to leave the area affected by the explosion.

Bomb “B-61” disassembled.

In this form, the bomb was stored “where it was needed.” Including almost 200 units deployed in Europe: in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Turkey. Or do you think why the United States is recalling its citizens from Turkey today, even the families of diplomats are being evacuated, and the security at the Incirlik NATO airbase has occupied the perimeter “in a combative manner” and is actually preparing to shoot at its partner in the military bloc at the slightest attempt to cross the perimeter of the “American” sector? The reason is precisely the presence of some operational stock of American tactical nuclear weapons there. These are exactly the B61. It was not possible to establish exactly how many of them there are in Turkey, but there are 12 of them at the Ramstein airbase in Germany.

Field tests of the B61 first models generally gave satisfactory results. From a range of 40 - 45 kilometers, the product fell into a circle with a radius of about 180 meters, which, with a maximum explosion power of 170 kilotons, guaranteed successful compensation of the miss in distance by the force of the ground explosion itself. True, the military soon drew attention to the theoretical possibility of the design to slightly vary the detonation power, since the maximum was not always required, and in a number of cases, excessive zeal caused much more harm than good. So the “pure” B61, as it was originally invented, no longer survives today.
The entire released stock went through a whole series of successive modifications, of which the most “ancient” is now B61-3 and soon followed by B61-4. The latter is especially interesting because the same product, depending on the electronics settings, can create an explosion with a power of 0.3 - 1.5 - 10 - 45 kilotons. Apparently, 0.3 kilotons is the approximate value of the explosion power of the trigger, without launching the subsequent thermonuclear part of the bomb.

Currently in service with the United States are the 3rd and 4th models of the B61, for the so-called “low” bombing used by tactical aircraft: F-16, F-18, F-22, A-10, Tornado and Eurofighter. And modified to power levels of 60, 80 and 170 kilotons, modifications 7 and 11 are considered “high-altitude” and are included in the range of weapons of the B-2A and B-52N strategic bombers.

The story would have ended there if not for physics. It would seem that they made a bomb, put it in a special storage facility, set up guards, and began their routine service. Well, yes, in the early 70s, as a result of aviation emergencies with B-52s patrolling in the air, several troubles happened when several nuclear bombs were lost. Off the coast of Spain, searches break out from time to time to this day. The US Air Force never admitted exactly how many “products” they had that time “sank along with the wreckage of the aircraft.” It’s just that there were 3,155, and there are about a thousand left; this cannot be attributed to any kind of emergency. Where did the difference go?

For the sake of tediousness, I described in detail above the structure of the American tactical “yadrenbaton”. Without it, it would be difficult to understand the essence of the problem that the United States faces, and which they have tried to hide for at least the last 15 years. You remember, the bomb consists of a “tank with thermonuclear fuel” and a plutonium trigger - a lighter. There are no problems with tritium. Lithium-6 deuteride is a solid substance and quite stable in its characteristics. The ordinary explosive that makes up the detonation sphere of the initial trigger initiator certainly changes its characteristics over time, but replacing it does not create any particular problem. But there are questions about plutonium.

Weapons-grade plutonium - it decays. Constant and unstoppable. The problem with the combat effectiveness of “old” plutonium charges is that over time the concentration of Plutonium 239 decreases. Due to alpha decay (Plutonium-239 nuclei “lose” alpha particles, which are the nuclei of the Helium atom), an admixture of Uranium is formed instead 235. Accordingly, the critical mass grows. For pure Plutonium 239 it is 11 kg (10 cm sphere), for uranium it is 47 kg (17 cm sphere). Uranium -235 also decays (this is the same as in the case of Plutonium-239, also alpha decay), contaminating the plutonium sphere with Thorium-231 and Helium. An admixture of plutonium 241 (and it is always there, albeit a fraction of a percent) with a half-life of 14 years, also decays (in this case there is already beta decay - Plutonium-241 “loses” an electron and a neutrino), giving Americium 241, which further worsens the critical indicators (Americium-241 decays in the alpha version to Neptunium-237 and all that aka Helium).

When I talked about rust, I wasn't really joking. Plutonium charges “age.” And it seems impossible to “update” them. Yes, theoretically, you can change the design of the initiator, melt 3 old balls, fuse 2 new ones from them... By increasing the mass taking into account the degradation of plutonium. However, “dirty” plutonium is unreliable. Even an enlarged “ball” may not reach a supercritical state when compressed during an explosion... And if suddenly, by some statistical whim, an increased content of Plutonium-240 is formed in the resulting ball (formed from 239 by neutron capture), then on the contrary, it can bang right on factory The critical value is 7% Plutonium-240, exceeding which can lead to the elegantly formulated “problem” - “premature detonation”.
Thus, we come to the conclusion that to renew the B61 fleet, the United States needs new, fresh plutonium initiators. But officially, breeder reactors in America were closed back in 1988. There are, of course, still accumulated reserves. In the Russian Federation, by 2007, 170 tons of weapons-grade plutonium had been accumulated, in the USA - 103 tons. Although these reserves are also “aging”. Plus, I remember the NASA article that the United States only has enough Plutonium-238 for a couple of RTGs. The Department of Energy promises NASA 1.5 kg of Plutonium-238 per year. “New Horizons” has a 220-watt RTG containing 11 kilograms. “Curiosity” - carries an RTG with 4.8 kg. Moreover, there are suggestions that this plutonium has already been purchased in Russia...

This lifts the veil of secrecy over the issue of the “mass drying out” of American tactical nuclear weapons. I suspect that they dismantled all the B61s produced before the early 80s of the 20th century, so to speak, in order to avoid “sudden accidents.” And also in view of the unknown: - will the product work as it should if, God forbid, it does come to its practical use? But now the deadline for the rest of the arsenal has begun to approach, and apparently the old tricks no longer work with it. Bombs need to be disassembled, but there is nothing left to make new ones in America. From the word - in general. Uranium enrichment technologies have been lost, the production of weapons-grade plutonium has now been stopped by mutual agreement between Russia and the United States, special reactors have been stopped. There are practically no specialists left. And, as it turned out, the United States no longer has the money to start these nuclear dances from the beginning in the required quantity. But it is impossible to abandon tactical nuclear weapons for a number of political reasons. And in general, in the United States, everyone, from politicians to military strategists, is too accustomed to having a tactical nuclear baton. Without her, they feel somehow uncomfortable, cold, scared and very lonely.

However, judging by information from open sources, the nuclear filling in the B61 has not completely “rotten” yet. The product will still work for 15 - 20 years. Another question is that you can forget about setting it to maximum power. So what? So we need to figure out how the same bomb can be placed more accurately! Calculations using mathematical models have shown that by reducing the radius of the circle into which the product is guaranteed to fall to 30 meters, and ensuring not a ground, but an underground detonation of the warhead at a depth of at least 3 to 12 meters, the destructive force of the impact, due to the processes flowing in a dense soil environment, the result is the same, and the power of the explosion can be reduced up to 15 times. Roughly speaking, the same result is achieved with 17 kilotons, instead of 170. How to do this? Yes, elementary, Watson!
The Air Force has been using Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) technology for nearly 20 years. Take an ordinary “dumb” (from English dumb) bomb.

A guidance kit is attached to it, including the use of GPS, the tail section is replaced from passive to actively steering according to commands from the on-board computer, and here you have a new, “smart” bomb, capable of hitting a target accurately. In addition, replacing the materials of some elements of the body and the head fairing makes it possible to optimize the trajectory of the product meeting an obstacle so that, due to its own kinetic energy, it can penetrate into the ground to the required depth before the explosion. The technology was developed by the Boeing Corporation in 1997 under a joint order of the Air Force and Navy USA. During the “Second Iraq War,” there was a known case of a 500-kilogram JDAM hitting an Iraqi bunker located 18 meters underground. Moreover, the detonation of the warhead of the bomb itself occurred at the minus third level of the bunker, located another 12 meters below. No sooner said than done! The United States has a program to modernize all 400 “tactical” and 200 “spare” B61s into the latest B61-12 modernization. However, there are rumors that “high-rise” options will also fall under this program.

The photo from the test program clearly shows that the engineers went exactly this way. You should not pay attention to the shank sticking out behind the stabilizers. This is an attachment element to a test bench in a wind tunnel.

It is important to note that an insert has appeared in the central part of the product, in which low-power rocket engines are located, the exhaust of the nozzles of which provides the bomb with its own rotation along the longitudinal axis. In combination with a homing head and active rudders, the B61-12 can now glide at a range of up to 120 - 130 kilometers, allowing the carrier aircraft to drop it without entering the target's air defense zone.
On October 20, 2015, the US Air Force conducted a drop test of a sample of a new tactical thermonuclear bomb at a test site in Nevada, using an F-15E fighter-bomber as a carrier. Ammunition without a charge confidently hit a circle with a radius of 30 meters.

Regarding accuracy (QUO):

This means that formally the Americans managed (they have an expression) to grab God by the beard. Under the guise of “simply modernizing one very, very old product,” which, moreover, does not fall under any of the newly concluded agreements, the United States created a “nuclear awl” with increased range and accuracy. Taking into account the peculiarities of the physics of the shock wave of an underground explosion and the modernization of the warhead to 0.3 - 1.5 - 10 - 35 (according to other sources up to 50) kilotons, in penetrating mode the B61-12 can provide the same destruction as in a conventional ground explosion capacity from 750 to 1250 kilotons.

True, the flip side of success was... money and allies. Since 2010, the Pentagon has spent only $2 billion on the search for a solution, including throw tests at the test site, which is mere nonsense by American standards. True, a malicious question arises, what did they come up with that was so new, considering that the most expensive serial set of equipment for retrofitting a conventional high-explosive bomb of the GBU type, comparable in size and weight, costs only 75 thousand dollars? Well, okay, why look into someone else's pocket.
Another thing is that experts from NNSA themselves predict the cost of converting the entire current B61 ammunition in the amount of at least $8.1 billion by 2024. This is if nothing has risen in price anywhere by that time, which is an absolutely fantastic expectation for American military programs. Although... even if this budget is divided into 600 products intended for modernization, the calculator tells me that the money will be needed at least 13.5 million bucks apiece. How much more expensive is this, considering the retail price of a regular “bomb intelligence” kit?

However, there is a very non-zero probability that the entire B61-12 program will never be fully implemented. This amount has already caused serious dissatisfaction with the US Congress, which is seriously engaged in searching for opportunities to sequester expenses and reduce budget programs. Including defense. The Pentagon, of course, is fighting to the death. Under Secretary of Defense for Global Strategy Madeleine Creedon told a congressional hearing that “the impact of sequestration threatens to undermine [nuclear weapons modernization] efforts and further increase unplanned costs by extending development and production periods.” According to her, already in its current form, budget cuts have led to a postponement of the start of the B61 modernization program by about six months. Those. The start of serial production of the B61-12 has moved to the beginning of 2020.

On the other hand, the civil congressmen sitting on various control, monitoring and all sorts of budgetary and financial commissions have their own reasons for sequestration. The F-35 aircraft, considered as the main carrier of new thermonuclear bombs, still does not really fly. The program for its supply to the troops has once again been disrupted and it is unknown whether it will be implemented at all. European NATO partners are increasingly expressing concern about the danger of increasing the “tactical sophistication” of the modernized B61 and the inevitable “some kind of response from Russia.” And over the past few years, it has already managed to demonstrate its ability to fend off new threats in completely asymmetrical ways. No matter how it turns out that as a result of Moscow’s retaliatory measures, nuclear security in Europe, despite the sweet speeches of Washington, did not increase, but, on the contrary, did not decrease. They increasingly cling to the desire for a nuclear-free Europe. And they are not at all happy with the modernized thermonuclear bombs. Perhaps the new British Prime Minister, in her first speech upon taking office, promised something about nuclear deterrence. The rest, especially Germany, France and Italy, are not at all shy about declaring that tactical nuclear weapons can be of least help against their existing problems with migrants and terrorist threats.

But the Pentagon still has nowhere to go. If you don’t modernize these bombs in the next 4-8 years, then “rust will eat up” half of the current ammunition... And after another five years, the issue of modernization may disappear by itself, so to speak, due to the disappearance of the item for modernization.
And, by the way, they have the same problems with filling the warheads of strategic nuclear weapons...

sources