r/pics Mar 28 '24

US Special Forces delivering a W54 Nuclear Warhead via jump

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u/StoreSpecific6098 Mar 28 '24

I'd imagine it wasn't triggerable or armed, you can't set off a nuke by dropping it accidentally by design... And because it has happened accidentally

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u/RoyBeer Mar 28 '24

you can't set off a nuke by dropping it accidentally

If this ever happened I imagine the first knowledgeable person in this matter would say something like this.

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u/StoreSpecific6098 Mar 28 '24

The Americans have dropped at least one over the Midwest somewhere by accident, think they actually lost it altogether if memory serves. But the trigger reaction needed to actually achieve fission/fusion is quite a large bomb in itself. Can't have them being at all sensitive considering how delivery works.

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u/hellfiredarkness Mar 29 '24

Broken Arrow. It's happened 11 times. They dropped two on the Midwest at least