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 The Mark 21 nuclear bomb was a United States thermonuclear gravity bomb first produced in 1955. It was based on the TX 21 "Shrimp" prototype that had been detonated during the Castle Bravo test in March 1954. While most of the Operation Castle t ...

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 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) was test fired by itself in Hardtack Butternut with 81 kiloton estimated yield, the full weapon test fired in Hardtack Yellowwood and fizzled with only 330 kiloton 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 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

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 A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

. Consideration to use one of the Army's

Redstone MRBM The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of ...

was also given. The XW-46/Redstone was canceled in favor of the Titan II/ W-53 combination in April 1958.

References

External links

B53 design and design history including B46
at uclearweaponarchive.org
Allbombs.html list of all US nuclear weapon designs
at uclearweaponarchive.org {{United States nuclear devices Cold War aerial bombs of the United States Nuclear bombs of the United States

See also

References

External links