[billorites]

"The United States first succeeded in testing an ordinary nuclear bomb in 1945 and is said to have developed a fusion-boosted fission bomb in 1956."

Boosted fission bombs were developed well before the staged thermonuclear weapons. Boosted fission bombs were what the Eniwetok tests were about in 1950 or 51.

"The intense fission reaction is sufficient to start fusion of the tritium and radically increase the yield both from added fusion energy and releasing a lot more neutrons further increasing the fission yield."

I believe that this is also the physical basis underlying the practice of the "keg stand" as well.

[doorgunner69]

That timeline is what I dimly remembered. Used to be a caual student of nuke design.

Drawing a blank on "keg stand". never ran across that term before.

[Oztrich Boy]

Boosted fission bombs were developed well before the staged thermonuclear weapons. Boosted fission bombs were what the Eniwetok tests were about in 1950 or 51.

Sorry no. The one 1951 boosted fission test Greenhouse Item was a proof of concept test, no way related to a deployable weapon (it used cryogenic booster fuel)

The 1951 test was primarily to test the nuclear principles involved, and to gain research data, and it was not considered a design for a weaponizable device. Even as late as 1954, no boosted weapon had entered into the nuclear-weapons stockpile, and the only use for the Greenhouse Item nuclear test had been for its research results.

This is not a deployable lightweight weapon

The first operational US TNs (The Mk 15 and 17) entered in service in 1955.

The first boosted fission weapons (the W-34 and the TN W-28) in 1958

Comparison without BF: W-7Betty depth bomb 1955 30" dia 1000 lbs

With BF: W-34Lulu depth bomb 1958 17" dia 300lbs