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RDS-4 (, also known as ''Tatyana'') was a Soviet nuclear bomb that was first tested at
Semipalatinsk Test Site The Semipalatinsk Test Site or Semipalatinsk-21 (; ), also known as "The Polygon", was the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. It is located in Zhanasemey District, Abai Region, Kazakhstan, south of the valley of the Ir ...
, on August 23, 1953. The device weighed approximately . The device was approximately one-third the size of the
RDS-3 RDS-3 () was the third atomic bomb developed by the Soviet Union in 1951, after the RDS-1 and RDS-2. It was called ''Marya'' in the military. The bomb had a composite design with a plutonium core inside a uranium shell, providing an explosive powe ...
. The bomb was dropped from an IL-28 aircraft at an altitude of and exploded at , with a yield of 28 kt. The
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
's first mass-produced
tactical nuclear weapon A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territ ...
was based on the RDS-4 and remained in service until 1966.It used a composite core of Pu-239 and 90% enriched U-235 and had a
nominal yield The coupon rate (nominal rate, or nominal yield) of a fixed income security is the interest rate that the issuer agrees to pay to the security holder each year, expressed as a percentage of the security's principal amount or par value. The coupon ...
of 30 kilotons. RDS-4 "Tatyana" turned out to be very compact - its weight (1200 kg) and dimensions were four times less than that of RDS-1, which allowed the new bomb to be taken into service not only by long-range aviation (
Tupolev Tu-4 The Tupolev Tu-4 (; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet Union, Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. The aircraft was a copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress, ha ...
,
Tupolev Tu-95 The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. Maiden flight, First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Long Range Aviation, Long-Range Avia ...
, Tupolev Tu-16,
Tupolev Tu-22 The Tupolev Tu-22 ( Air Standardization Coordinating Committee name: Blinder) was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with Long-Range Aviation and Soviet Nav ...
,
Myasishchev M-4 The Myasishchev M-4 ''Molot'' (), USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 37", Air Standardization Coordinating Committee, ASCC reporting name Bison) was a four-engined strategic bomber designed by Myasishchev, Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev and manufa ...
, and Myasishchev 3M), but also front-line (
Ilyushin Il-28 The Ilyushin Il-28 (; NATO reporting name: Beagle) is a jet bomber of the immediate postwar period that was originally manufactured for the Soviet Air Forces. It was the Soviet Union's first such aircraft to enter large-scale production. It was ...
,
Tupolev Tu-2 The Tupolev Tu-2 (development names ANT-58 and 103; NATO reporting name Bat) is a twin-engined Soviet high-speed daylight and frontline bomber aircraft used during World War II. The Tu-2 was tailored to meet a requirement for a high-speed bomber ...
, Yakovlev Yak-26, Yakovlev Yak-28,
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is a Soviet second generation, single-seat, twinjet fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. " Cen ...
, and
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames include: "''Balalaika''", because its planf ...
). A tactical weapon based on the RDS-4 was also used on September 14, 1954 during Snowball military exercise at the Totsky range (similar to Western Desert Rock exercises), when the bomb was dropped by the Tu-4 bomber (the reverse-engineered Boeing B-29). The purpose of this exercise was not to test the bomb itself, but the ability of using it while breaking through enemy defenses (presumably in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
). After the explosion Soviet jet fighters were sent to fly through the mushroom cloud while tanks and infantry were forced to move through ground zero.


See also

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Nuclear weapons program of the Soviet Union The Soviet atomic bomb project was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Russian physicist Georgy Flyorov suspected that the Allies of World War II, Allied powers were secretly d ...
*
Soviet atomic bomb project The Soviet atomic bomb project was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Russian physicist Georgy Flyorov suspected that the Allied powers were secretly developing a " superwea ...
*
RDS-3 RDS-3 () was the third atomic bomb developed by the Soviet Union in 1951, after the RDS-1 and RDS-2. It was called ''Marya'' in the military. The bomb had a composite design with a plutonium core inside a uranium shell, providing an explosive powe ...
*
Mark 7 nuclear bomb Mark 7 "Thor" (or Mk-7) was the first tactical fission bomb adopted by US armed forces. It was also the first weapon to be delivered via toss bombing with the help of the low-altitude bombing system (LABS). The weapon was tested in Operation Bust ...


References

{{Soviet nuclear weapons 1953 in the Soviet Union 1953 in military history Explosions in 1953 August 1953 in Asia Soviet nuclear weapons testing Nuclear bombs of the Soviet Union