At a new year’s party, some friends of mine were drunkenly discussing all the ‘great ideas that never made it’. Basically things that might have seemed like a good idea on the outset, but if you spend more than 5 seconds thinking about it, it becomes incredibly silly and impractical. One of the things they were talking about was ‘Those crazy Soviets’ and all the crazy cold-war weapons the Soviets had. The things that came up, which I’ve heard rumors of before-
Nuclear Hand Grenades- I read in a magazine (Time? Newsweek? I can’t remember ) about suitcase bombs that had small nuclear weapons, and these were real, so it seems like it wouldn’t be that farfetched that the soviets might have a throwable/lobbable version? Or was that too crazy even for the Soviets?
Tanks parachuted out of airplanes- People were talking about how the Soviets wanted to parachute tanks out of airplanes. I remember seeing an episode of Ren and Stimpy where they trained to become tank paratroopers and I figured maybe they were spoofing a real Soviet idea. It seems like Cold War scaremongering to me, but would it be a viable tactic to rapidly deploy tanks in distant places? Parachuting into my neighborhood to crush my decadent capitalist bourgois home?! :eek:
Of course I know that the dubious sources of these tales could mean they are BS, but watching the History channel I was suprised what measures people were willing to go through in wartime. I mean in WWII the Japanese had all sorts of suicide craft, so it makes it hard to totally disbelieve the possibility that the Soviets might have developed something as silly as a nuclear hand grenade…
Actually, it depends on what you mean by “Tanks parachuted out of airplanes.” If you mean dropping a tank from the same height that paratroopers jump from, no, there is no such thing.
However, there are airdropped armor units. The US Army 82nd Airborne had 3/72 Armor which used Sheridans and they were last airdropped into combat in 1989 in Panama. The 3/72 was the only light armor battalion in the US Army at the time and was inactivated in 1997.
The armor is deployed like any other heavy vehicle, airdroped from a low height, IIRC, within 30’ or less from the ground. They really dragged out of the plane by their chute and packed on a collapsible pallet. The crew is dropped in the normal fashion and once on the ground, clear the vehicle from its packing and move out.
Not from the Soviet side, but the US Davy Crockett is probably as close as you’d get to an actually fielded nuclear “hand grenade” (always looks to me like something Wile.E.Coyote would buy from the ACME Co. in the Roadrunner cartoon)
There was the Ekronoplan - the world’s biggest plane.
The US, OTOH wad the Davy Crockett. Not exactly a nuclear hand grenade, but a 250ton payload and a range of around a mile, it was a spectactularly stupid idea.
As for nuclear hand grenades: I think the laws of physics would get in the way. I’d need more info on how much plutonium you’d need to achieve critical mass, but looking at the density of plutonium I’d imagine it would make for a grenade too heavy for a human to carry, let alone lob.
What would be the minimum “safe distance” for a 250 ton warhead? Would whoever used the Davy Crockett get incinerated by a nuclear fireball, or would they survive, only to die from radiation poisoning?
The Russians are the source for this sort of thing.
They even conceived of a Doomsday Machine. It was to be a nuclear bomb made from the hull of a rather large ship, perhaps an oil tanker. When the time came, this weapon had one purpose:
The Soviets apparently spent money and resources on a “psychic” program for military use. Exactly what they spent, & even exactly what they were trying to acheive, I have never seen a good Cite. The nature of the subject just brings every wacko who can throw up a website to do so – all calim inside info etc. Best advice is Google something like Soviet Psychic Experiments and make a judgement based on the website owner
Speaking of funky sources, I saw this on FARK a while back --it is Pravda which is HIGHLY unreliable. Having said that it is appropos the OP…
Yeah, ** Tapioca Dextrin **the CIA felt they had to do it because the Soviets were doing it and what if, right? At least that is how they painted it to us.
Tho exactly what CIA did look at and when they shut down I don’t know – (like the USSR) – does anyone have a good cite? I know there was some congressional testimony on it a while back
I’m not going to provide any links because they’re mostly “nut” sites but google on “soviet ELF woodpecker”. ELF is extreme low frequency radio and woodpecker refers to the sound that is heard when the harmonics from it are picked up by amateur radio. It is speculated that the Soviets were trying to control minds and/or the weather. It is also believed that ELF was used for long distance over the horizon radar. You be the judge (if you care).
The soviets pioneered the use of armoured vehicles in their airborn formations, and the old soviet airborn division was a light mechanized formation, as opposed to essentially light infantry formation that american airborn units were. http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/2116/airborne41.htm
I believe the later variant BMD infantry fighting vehicle was the first such vehicle capable of being airdropped with the crew inside, as opposed to dropping the crew seperately, and possibly losing and scattering vehicles and crews.
Soviet Airborn armour units were used extensively in the initial invaion of afghanistan in 1979, where a soviet airborn divisionsiezed the entire city of kabul in one day. How’s that for shock and awe?
The Davy Crockett sounds like a good idea, actually. Fire the thing over the other side of the hill and Bob’s your uncle. People have huge hangups about nuclear weapons, because they are so much more powerful than conventional weapons, but that’s all they are - weapons. You’re just as dead if you’re killed by a bullet as if by a nuke. And given the short half-life of plutonium, they wouldn’t have a long shelf-life.
qts: It’s supremely rude to leave fallout that will lower real estate prices for the next few decades at the very least. Not to mention giving your own soldiers cancer from carrying around the highly radioactive ordinance. Given the incidence of cancer in those who work around depleted uranium rounds, I can’t imagine what the Davy Crockett would have done to us.
The BMD-3, indeed, was designed to be dropped with the crew inside, into a combat area.
You might want to try astronautix.com, for some space-based weaponry. I’m a little too pressed for time right now to make the direct links, but you can find Soviet battle space station designs, shuttle interceptors, and assorted SDI stuff. Most of it never left the drawing board…but the armed Almaz and Polyus systems were actually launched. (!)
Have to laugh at the bottom menu on that site you linked to, the icons are from Command and Conquer. Seems kind of at odds with the deadly Russian armour on show on the rest of the page
) about suitcase bombs that had small nuclear weapons, and these were real, so it seems like it wouldn’t be that farfetched that the soviets might have a throwable/lobbable version? Or was that too crazy even for the Soviets?
