[rellimpank]

-no-

[Brilliant]

Don't you have to have a suitcase to have a suitcase nuke? This guy's napsack won't do it--even if his donkey carries it.

[Glenn]

That's all that can be said right now

Drudge? Is that you?

You sound like my evening newscasters at 10 in the mornging. Usually they are hoping like hell that something breaks before they have to go on the air so they don't look like idiots.

[MikefromOhio]

short answer:

Not a chance in Hades

[HipShot]

There's no need to complicate this thing. You're assigning more credit to Ivan than is due; these suitcases are not multistage fusion devices.

There is no tritium required for a simple fission device.

This is a simple gun type device that only requires maintenance of two aspects:

1. The plastic explosive that drives the sub critical u235 "bullet" would need periodic replacement

2. The battery for the detonator would bleed out over time

This isn't a high tech weapon. Anyone with access to U235 could produce it. It's inefficient and inelegant, but it's also highly effective.

"Little Boy" was a gun type that yielded 13+ kt over Hiroshima. We'd NEVER see a yield that high from a device this small, but that's not really their point. They are tactical devices.

There is a minimum weight for the sub critical masses, but that is within the realm of "suitcase" sized devices, as long as the bullet is driven fast enough.

[EternalHope]

Serious question: What happened to the "bombshell" announcement?