# Hand triggered nuke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2000, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857 "2000-08-26T19:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![darkcool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@darkcool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/darkcool)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/1 "2000-08-26T19:15:32Z")
I was watching “Armageddon” last night and at the part where Willis is handed the hand-trigger for the nuke I started thinking… Yes, I realize it’s just a movie. But never underestimate the military. Any service guys out there (or anyone) who has heard of such a device. I can see the Pentagon thinking they might need one, you know, just in case… ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/2 "2000-08-26T19:37:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by darkcool \* > \*\* > Any service guys out there (or anyone) who has heard of such a device. \*\* The thing is, the only people who really know, aren’t allowed to tell you if there is one. I never heard of such a thing, but that means nothing. However, most American Nuclear technology is based on fail safe principles. That means making it impossible for any nuclear device to detonate (nuclear detonate, that is) without national command authority. While that doesn’t absolutely prevent the implementation of a hand trigger, it means that a hand trigger would have to be under extraordinary control, since it takes only one psychotic triggerman to operate it. (Or it needs to count on the operational reliability of two individual heroes, which has some tactical disadvantages.) On the whole, it seems a lot of effort for a minimal set of projected operational needs. Remote detonation methods could be adapted to extremely short values of “remote” with a lot less trouble. I am not sure that the Army would plan on such a system, though. In the immortal words of George Patton, “It is not the business of a soldier to die for his country. It is the business of a soldier to arrange things so that some other poor son of a bitch gets to die for **his** country. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/3 "2000-08-26T19:51:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*However, most American Nuclear technology is based on fail safe principles. That means making it impossible for any nuclear device to detonate (nuclear detonate, that is) without national command authority. While that doesn’t absolutely prevent the implementation of a hand trigger, it means that a hand trigger would have to be under extraordinary control, since it takes only one psychotic triggerman to operate it. > \*\* Oh bull. There is a whole array of nuclear weapons that are fired with just one man pushing a switch. For example, the “Daniel Boone” nuclear missile. This was a short-lived experiment in tactical nukes during the 1950s, it was a low-yield (.5 kiloton IIRC) short range weapon fired from a portable launcher, it could be set up by a two man team. Unfortunately, the weapon had a very short range, shorter than the blast radius, so the crew also had to dig a ditch to jump into after firing the thing. Sorta like a nuclear hand grenade. There are also a variety of “briefcase nukes” that are hand-carried to the target. Set the timer, set the dial for yield (high radiation-neutron bomb vs. high blast) and walk away. I’ve seen a web page showing actual briefcase nukes that were decommissioned and declassified as obsolete, I’ll try to dig it up. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/4 "2000-08-26T22:58:51Z")
Found it… Here’s a link to some realvideo clips of suitcase nuclear weapons, both US and Soviet versions: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/suitcase/prepare.ram](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/suitcase/prepare.ram) And, I stand corrected, it was not the “Daniel Boone” weapon, it was the “Davy Crockett” weapon, which ironically, is pictured on the Soviet weapons page at: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/suitcase/comments.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/suitcase/comments.html) This wasn’t the page I was looking for, but it’s close enough. I saw photos of bombs that were small enough for a briefcase, much smaller than these weapons. And those were the OLD versions that are declassified. Think of what they have NOW… ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/5 "2000-08-26T23:02:46Z")
oops, one more correction… That first link was to the video directly, not to the main page, which is at: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/suitcase/](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/russia/suitcase/) Sorry for the confusion. Maybe Manhattan can just substitute that URL in my original message, I couldn’t figure out how to edit my own message. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/6 "2000-08-27T01:55:21Z")
Little hint: You can’t edit your own message. They should change the FAQ, they really should. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/7 "2000-08-27T05:21:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > > However, most American Nuclear technology is based on fail safe principles. That means making it impossible for any nuclear device to detonate (nuclear detonate, that is) without national command authority. > \*\* I think what you mean is that all U.S. nuclear weapons are single point safe- meaning that a detonation of the conventional explosive from a single point will not cause any appreciable yield(the implosion design is VERY intricate) More info on nuclear weapon safety can be found at: [http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Usa/Weapons/Pal.html](http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Usa/Weapons/Pal.html) and more nuclear weapons stuff in general at: [http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/](http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/) ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/8 "2000-08-27T06:29:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*I think what you mean is that all U.S. nuclear weapons are single point safe- meaning that a detonation of the conventional explosive from a single point will not cause any appreciable yield(the implosion design is VERY intricate) > \*\* I think he’s talking more about Command & Control, which was the issue in the movie Armageddon that inspired the question. They have a battle between ground control which wants to detonate immediately, vs the crew which overrides the ground control to detonate under local control. They set a timer but it is damaged so they have to detonate it manually. Oops, I suppose I should have marked that as a spoiler. You really should watch that PBS realvideo of the training film for the SADM. It shows it deployed by two frogmen in parachutes. One jumps with the bomb, and the second one is a “safety officer” which I presume is either a backup man in case the 1st guy gets injured parachuting with a 150lb nuke strapped to his chest, or maybe he’s a second commander, they didn’t really say. The film ends with a closeup of a watch face timer. There’s no going back once the timer is set. You can’t get the mushroom cloud back into the plutonium sphere. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hand-triggered-nuke/30857/9 "2000-08-27T17:20:22Z")
There’s no inherent reason why there _couldn’t_ be a manually detonated nuclear device. The detonators on the conventional explosive “shell” around the “core” are controlled by ultra-precise devices, called “Kryten” switches (spelling may be off, but that’s the way it sounds phonetically), all controlled (nowadays, at least) by some kinda master circuit. So, kamikaze triggerman presses manual detonator switch, activating firing circuit, which sends commands to switches, which fire detonators, imploding core, initiation fission, inject tritium and other enhancers, hai wingo!: Fusion. The psychology behind a manual trigger, though, is debateable. It would have to take one seriously dedicated (and, IMHO _medicated_) person to volunteer for such duty. _ **ExTank** _