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The Mark 8 nuclear bomb was an American
Weapon Design: We've done a lot but we can't say much
by Carson Mark, Raymond E. Hunter, and Jacob E. Weschler, Los Alamos Science, Winter/Spring 1983, pp 159. The Mark 8 was in diameter across its body and long depending on submodel. It weighed , and had a yield of 25-30 kilotons. A total of 40 Mark 8 bombs were produced. The Mark 8 was succeeded by an improved variant, the Mark 11 nuclear bomb.
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* {{United States nuclear devices Mark 08 Gun-type nuclear bombs Nuclear bombs of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1950s
The Mark 8 nuclear bomb was an American nuclear bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
, designed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which was in service from 1952 to 1957.
Description
The Mark 8 was a gun-type nuclear bomb, which rapidly assembles several critical masses of fissile nuclear material by firing a fissile projectile or "bullet" over and around a fissile "target", using a system which closely resembles a medium-sized cannon barrel and propellant. The Mark 8 was an early earth-penetrating bomb (see nuclear bunker buster), intended to dig into the earth some distance prior to detonating. According to one government source, the Mark 8 could penetrate of reinforced concrete, of hard sand, of clay, or of hardened armor-plate steel.by Carson Mark, Raymond E. Hunter, and Jacob E. Weschler, Los Alamos Science, Winter/Spring 1983, pp 159. The Mark 8 was in diameter across its body and long depending on submodel. It weighed , and had a yield of 25-30 kilotons. A total of 40 Mark 8 bombs were produced. The Mark 8 was succeeded by an improved variant, the Mark 11 nuclear bomb.
Variants
The Mark 8 was considered as a cratering warhead for theSSM-N-8 Regulus
The SSM-N-8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a United States Navy-developed ship-and-submarine-launched, nuclear-capable turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964. Its development was an outgrowth of U.S. Navy ...
cruise missile. This W8 variant was cancelled in 1955.
A lighter Mark 8 variant, the Mark 10 nuclear bomb, was developed as a lightweight airburst (surface target) bomb. The Mark 10 project was cancelled prior to introduction into service, replaced by the much more fissile-material-efficient Mark 12 nuclear bomb implosion design.
See also
* List of nuclear weapons * Mark 1 Little Boy nuclear bombReferences
External links
Allbombs.html
list of all US nuclear warheads a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
* {{United States nuclear devices Mark 08 Gun-type nuclear bombs Nuclear bombs of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1950s