[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[DCBryan1]

We got some training on these at NNSA/OST even though they were being dismantled at Pantex. Very interesting and very specific uses. IIRC OSINT says they were very very maintanence heavy and DoD was glad to be rid of them.

[LyinLibs]

Why are they publishing this now?

Is this their ‘story’ after Obama slips a tac nuke to al-Qaeda and they vaporize Charleston harbor?

They’ll blame Billy Bob AWOL backpack nuke officer from Milwaukee. Or they’ll just blame an offensive YouTube video.

[The Great RJ]

It is scary to think that this type weapon could fall into the hands of Islamic terrorists and be easily smuggled into the US through our porous borders. Presumably the Russian back pack nukes have all been accounted for, but the plans for such weapons could have been put into the hands of those capable producing them like the Iranians.

[onedoug]

“A Beautiful Mind”

[MasterGunner01]

Let us not forget the US Army actually fielded a real live version of the “atomic grenade” called the Davy Crockett weapon system. From 1961 to 1971, the Davy Crockett was deployed by US Army units. Davy Crockett was either a 120mm recoilless rifle (M28) or a slightly larger and longer ranged, increased yield 155mm variant (M29). In both cases the payload was a tactical nuclear warhead called the W54.

The problem for the Davy Crockett crews was they were still WITHIN the blast radius of the weapon they launched to stop the advancing forces of The Evil Empire! Soldiers we told to fire the weapon from behind prominent natural cover or, failing that, to dig a deep slit trench. The W28 weapon was deployed on a tripod and fired remotely like the current M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mine. The larger M29 variant was usually deployed from an M38A1D jeep conversion so the crew could “shoot and scoot”. The M29 launcher also carried a 37 mm spotting gun underneath the barrel as a targeting aid for the Davy Crockett launch crew. Firing of the M29 from the jeep was also done remotely.

Here's the Davy Crockett story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device).

[donozark]

The Mu Gia Pass in N. Vietnam was a proposed target for such an attack. Tons of military supplies flowed freely through this pass, and down the Ho Chi Minh Trail into Laos and entered S. Vietnam via the A Shau/A Luoi Valley. As far back as 1966 plans were formulated to drop a SOG Team or similar clandestine operators in via HALO. Armed with a small back pack nuke.

The purpose being to place the nuke in such a manner as to collapse the mountain pass and seal off the roadway. Obviously, this was not done...