When elite US forces strapped nukes to their backs

Stars & Stripes ^ | February 9, 2014 | Adam Rawnsley and David Brown

[Timber Rattler]

As Capt. Tom Davis stands at the tailgate of the military cargo plane, the night air sweeps through the hold. His eyes search the black terrain 1,200 feet below. He grips the canvas of his reserve parachute and takes a deep breath.

Davis and the men who make up his Special Forces A-team are among the most highly trained soldiers in the U.S. Army. It's 1972, and Davis isn't far removed from a tour in Vietnam, where he operated along the Cambodian border. His communications sergeant served in Command and Control North, which was responsible for some of the most daring operations in the heart of North Vietnamese territory. But none of the men has ever been on a mission like this before.

Their plan: drop into Eastern Europe, make their way undetected through forested mountains, and destroy a heavy-water plant used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

(snip)

For 25 years, during the latter half of the Cold War, the United States actually did deploy man-portable nuclear destruction in the form of the B-54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM).

Soldiers from elite Army engineer and Special Forces units, as well as Navy SEALs and select Marines, trained to use the bombs, known as "backpack nukes," on battlefronts from Eastern Europe to Korea to Iran — part of the U.S. military's effort to ensure the containment and, if necessary, defeat of communist forces.

[Timber Rattler]

I remember all the talk about these back in the 1980s...seems that the Rooskis had the same idea and rumor had it that the KGB actually planted some of their own at critical infrastructure points across the U.S. for potential future U.S. Those stories have gone away though.

[knarf]

I think the phraseology transformed into 'suitcase' nukes and that was followed by, "Welll .. there is a shelf life and deterioration, and .. "

and the whole thing went away.

[Texas Fossil]

There are no backpack nukes.

The smallest are past human conveyance.

[Travis McGee]

Maybe not now, but there were.

[DIRTYSECRET]

U expect us to believe that?

[Timber Rattler]

When hauling the weapons on foot, things were even more difficult. Dan Dawson, an ADM engineer, remembers how difficult it was to run with a backpack nuke. During a training exercise, his unit simulated a mission to blow up a railroad tunnel but found it difficult to move a SADM across a patch of open ground.

"To get [the SADM backpacker] across this open area in a hurry, two of us, one on each side, had to support him under his arms and trot with him across this open area. You could carry it, but you couldn't run with it."

[PapaBear3625]

The W54 device was "10.75 inches diameter (270 mm), about 15.7 inches long (400 mm), and weighs around or slightly over 50 pounds (23 kg)".

A fit man can carry a 50 pound backpack a long distance.

[thackney]

[Former Proud Canadian]

If the US could build a backpack nuke in 1972, can the Israeli's build one forty years later?

I would say they can.

[Jed Eckert]

I remember all the talk about these back in the 1980s...seems that the Rooskis had the same idea and rumor had it that the KGB actually planted some of their own at critical infrastructure points across the U.S. for potential future U.S. Those stories have gone away though.

There was a good movie that touched on a similar subject back in '77 : Telefon

[Renegade]

If there were,where are they now?

[thackney]

The Davy Crockett
http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/archive/nucweapons/davyc

The W54 warhead used on the Davy Crockett weighed just 51 pounds and was the smallest and lightest fission bomb (implosion type) ever deployed by the United States, with a variable explosive yield of 0.01 kilotons (equivalent to 10 tons of TNT...

[Celtic Conservative]

Hopefully the range of the round is further than the blast radius or it’s a “one way” trip for the poor sap deploying it. This is also why you usually won’t see the words “nuclear hand grenade” put together in the same sentence.

CC

[sgtyork]

We war-gamed using them in Command Post Exercises in the 80s.

[Jed Eckert]

The W54 warhead used on the Davy Crockett weighed just 51 pounds and was the smallest and lightest fission bomb (implosion type) ever deployed by the United States, with a variable explosive yield of 0.01 kilotons (equivalent to 10 tons of TNT..

I remember seeing the Davy Crockett making an appearance in some stupid Japanese monster movie back in the early 60s. IIRC the U.S. got a bit concerned because it was supposed to be top secret at the time.

[freepersup]

Back in the day, a roommate relayed the fun times he had swimming into harbors, leaving behind blue training devices. He said things wouldn’t be as much fun for him and his bros., if or when they used the green versions.

[TweetEBird007]

As winter approached in 63 or 64 I was looking for a warmer place. I applied for a school at Eglin AFB, Fla. and was turned down. About 2 or 3 weeks later was assigned to go to an ADM school, atomic demolition munitions, north of base, was the worst snow storm in that area since the 40’s. SADAM
TADAM and other munitions and accessories would be a load for several men to carry.

[catman67]

My understanding is that the blast radius was greater than the range.

It was NOT a popular weapon!

[MNnice]

I’ve actually had serious liberals tell me that the Cold War wasn’t really a war because no one died. I just laughed.

[MNnice]

Back in the late 60s, the multiple nuclear warheads atop a Polaris or Poseidan missile were each about the size of a basketball. Depending upon the version of the missile, that could be 3 warheads or 10. “Suitcase” size warheads were certainly doable even then.