Mark 12 nuclear bomb
Illustration — Mark-12 nuclear bomb The Mark-12 nuclear bomb was a lightweight nuclear bomb designed and manufactured by the United States which was built starting in 1954 and which saw service from then until 1962. The Mark-12 was notable for being significantly smaller in both size and weight compared to prior implosion-type nuclear weapons. For example, the overall diameter was only 22 in, compared to the immediately prior Mark-7 which had a 30 in diameter, and the volume of the implosion assembly was only 40% the size of the Mark-7's.
Mark 12 nuclear bomb
USN · U.S. Navy photo [1] via chinalakealumni.org · Public domain
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Illustration — Mark-12 nuclear bomb The Mark-12 nuclear bomb was a lightweight nuclear bomb designed and manufactured by the United States which was built starting in 1954 and which saw service from then until 1962. The Mark-12 was notable for being significantly smaller in both size and weight compared to prior implosion-type nuclear weapons. For example, the overall diameter was only 22 in, compared to the immediately prior Mark-7 which had a 30 in diameter, and the volume of the implosion assembly was only 40% the size of the Mark-7's.
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Specifications
Specifications
There was a planned W-12 warhead variant which would have been used with the RIM-8 Talos missile, but it was cancelled prior to introduction into service.
• Illustration — A North American FJ-4 Fury carrying a Mk 12 bomb (shape) over China Lake. The complete Mark-12 bomb was 22 in in diameter, 155 in long, and weighed 1100 to. It had a yield of 12 to.
Features
Features
The Mark-12 has been speculated to have been the first deployed nuclear weapon to have used beryllium as a reflector-tamper inside the implosion assembly (see nuclear weapon design). It is believed to have used a spherical implosion assembly, levitated pit, and 92-point detonation. It used an automatic in-flight insertion system for safing, in which its nuclear material was kept inside of the weapon itself, but outside of the implosion sphere until a motor-driven mechanism activated by the plane crew signaled for it to be inserted.
In popular culture
In popular culture
Though the weapon went out of service in 1962, it resurfaced in a fictional role in Tom Clancy's 1991 book The Sum of All Fears and the 2002 film, where the plot included an Israeli copy of the Mark-12 being lost by accident in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War in southern Syria near the Golan Heights, and then recovered by a terrorist organization.
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Mark 12 nuclear bomb is connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
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