The B46 nuclear bomb (or Mk-46) was an American high-yield
thermonuclear bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
which was designed and tested in the late 1950s. It was never deployed. Though originally intended to be a production design, the B46 ended up being only an intermediate prototype of the B-53 and was test fired several times. These prototypes were known as TX-46 units (Test/Experimental).
The B46 design roughly weighed and was about in diameter. It was intended to have a 9
megaton
Megaton may refer to:
* A million tons
* Megaton TNT equivalent, explosive energy equal to 4.184 petajoules
* megatonne, a million tonnes, SI unit of mass
Other uses
* Olivier Megaton (born 1965), French film director, writer and editor
* ''Me ...
yield.
The design history of the B46 apparently derives most immediately from the older, larger
Mark 21 nuclear bomb design, which was a design derivative of the Shrimp design which was the first US solid fueled thermonuclear bomb test fired in the
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of '' Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...
test.
The B46 was test fired in
Operation Hardtack I
Operation Hardtack I was a series of 35 nuclear tests conducted by the United States from April 28 to August 18 in 1958 at the Pacific Proving Grounds. At the time of testing, the Operation Hardtack I test series included more nuclear detonation ...
in 1958; the fission primary (see
Teller-Ulam design
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
) was test fired by itself in Hardtack Butternut with 81
kiloton
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a ...
estimated yield, the full weapon test fired in Hardtack Yellowwood and fizzled with only 330
kiloton
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a ...
yield, and was fired again in Hardtack Oak to full 8.9 megaton yield.
The B46 design concepts were taken forwards into a new weapon design in 1959, the TX-53, which was redesignated the
B53 nuclear bomb
The Mk/B53 was a high-yield bunker buster thermonuclear weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War. Deployed on Strategic Air Command bombers, the B53, with a yield of 9 megatons, was the most powerful weapon in the U.S. n ...
and W53 warhead. 50 B53 bombs were in US inactive reserves from 1997 to 2011, though none were actively deployed during that period.
Towards the end of 1955, consideration was given to using the physics package of the TX-46 aerial bomb as a warhead for the
USAF
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
Snark
Snark may refer to:
Fictional creatures
* Snark (Lewis Carroll), a fictional animal species in Lewis Carroll's ''The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876)
* Zn'rx, a race of fictional aliens in Marvel Comics publications, commonly referred to as "Snark ...
intercontinental
cruise missile. Consideration to use one of the Army's
Redstone MRBM was also given. The XW-46/Redstone was canceled in favor of the
Titan II
The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a medium-lift space l ...
/
W-53 combination in April 1958.
See also
*
B53 nuclear bomb
The Mk/B53 was a high-yield bunker buster thermonuclear weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War. Deployed on Strategic Air Command bombers, the B53, with a yield of 9 megatons, was the most powerful weapon in the U.S. n ...
*
Mark 21 nuclear bomb
*
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of '' Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...
*
Operation Hardtack I
Operation Hardtack I was a series of 35 nuclear tests conducted by the United States from April 28 to August 18 in 1958 at the Pacific Proving Grounds. At the time of testing, the Operation Hardtack I test series included more nuclear detonation ...
tests including Butternut, Yellowwood, and Oak
*
List of nuclear weapons
This is a list of nuclear weapons listed according to country of origin, and then by type within the states.
United States
US nuclear weapons of all types – bombs, warheads, shells, and others – are numbered in the same sequence starting wi ...
References
External links
B53 design and design history including B46at
uclearweaponarchive.orgAllbombs.html list of all US nuclear weapon designsat
uclearweaponarchive.org
{{United States nuclear devices
Cold War aerial bombs of the United States
Nuclear bombs of the United States