RDS-3 was the third
atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
developed by the
Soviet Union in 1951, after the famous
RDS-1 and
RDS-2. It was called ''Marya'' in the military. The bomb had a composite design with a
plutonium core inside a
uranium shell, providing an explosive power of 41.2 kilotons.
The RDS-3T was a modernized version and the first mass-produced
nuclear weapon by the
Soviet Union. It was assigned to
Long Range Aviation
Long-Range Aviation ( rus, Авиация Дальнего Действия, r=Aviatsiya dal'nego deystviya, abbr. to AДД, or ADD, and literally ''Aviation of Distant Action'') is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces responsible for delive ...
in 1953.
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Testing
RDS-3 was tested on October 18, 1951, being air-dropped. It was the first such test of a nuclear device by the Soviets, known as Joe-3 in the West. It was detonated at an altitude of four hundred meters. The resulting flash could be seen from 170 kilometers away, and the sound heard from around the same distance.
See also
* Soviet atomic bomb project
* RDS-1
* RDS-2
* RDS-4
* RDS-37
*RDS-220
The Tsar Bomba () (code name: ''Ivan'' or ''Vanya''), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. Overall, the Soviet ...
(Tsar Bomba)
References
Soviet nuclear weapons testing
Nuclear bombs of the Soviet Union
Cold War aerial bombs of the Soviet Union
1951 in the Soviet Union
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