Tactical Nuclear Weapons

Small nuclear warheads intended for use in a battlefield situation or a limited strike. Tactical nuclear weapons, also referred to as battlefield nukes, are less powerful than the strategic nuclear warheads mounted on intercontinental ballistic missiles. They are meant to devastate enemy targets in a specific area without causing widespread destruction and radioactive fallout.

The United States began developing lightweight nuclear warheads in the 1950s. One of the first such devices was the W-54 warhead, whose explosive force, or yield, varied from 0.1 to 1 kiloton (a kiloton is a force equal to 1,000 tons of TNT). By comparison, the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II had yields of 12 to 25 kilotons. The W-54 was the main warhead used on the Davy Crockett nuclear recoilless rifle, a portable warhead launcher that was crewed by a single soldier. The Davy Crockett could deliver a warhead to a target up to 2.5 miles away.

During the 1960s, the U.S. Navy and Marines collaborated on development of a tactical nuclear device called the Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM). The project called for a two-man crew to parachute from an aircraft carrying a portable warhead similar to the W-54. The crew would place the weapon in a harbor or other target reachable by sea. They would then swim to a small craft waiting offshore to pick them up. The nuclear device was set to explode after the crew was safely out of the blast area.

During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union manufactured and deployed tens of thousands of tactical nuclear weapons. These included nuclear artillery shells, nuclear antiaircraft missiles, and nuclear antitank rounds. However, none were ever used in combat. For destroying small targets, modern conventional munitions were found to be just as effective as nuclear weapons. The only advantage of nuclear weapons in a tactical situation is that one warhead can be used in place of many conventional explosives. In addition, neither of the superpowers was willing to risk unleashing all-out nuclear war by employing battlefield nukes.

Since the end of the Cold War, however, Russia has developed a much more open attitude toward the use of tactical nuclear weapons. This change stems largely from the deterioration in Russian conventional forces following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The cash-strapped Russian military sees tactical nuclear weapons as a cost-effective way of defending Russian interests in the post-Soviet era. By contrast, the United States unilaterally destroyed its tactical nuclear arsenal after the fall of the Soviet Union, and Congress passed legislation forbidding the testing, development, and stockpiling of nuclear warheads with yields of less than 5 kilotons.