How powerful are America's different nuclear weapons?

The United States maintains the second-largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world, behind only Russia.

Among this apocalyptic arsenal are a wide variety of warhead delivery methods and possible yields, meant to give the American Defense apparatus a broad range of nuclear response options in the event of war.

Let's run through these different weapons, warheads, delivery methods, and yields.

📱 Follow Sandboxx News on social

📱 Follow Alex Hollings on social

Citations:

[SandboxxApp]

Correction! Big thanks to @AnalyticaCamil1 on Twitter/X for bringing this to my attention.

50 megatons would not be more than 100 times the destructive power of the 475 kiloton Minuteman III — here's how AnalyticaCamil1 broke it down for me:

good video per usual, but your numbers are kind’ve off here.

Nukes are explosives (I mean, obviously right 😅), which means they don’t actually increase in power at a linear rate.


If I’m remembering my formulas correctly, it’s something like (x^2/3)/(y^2/3). So practically, that means a 5 megaton bomb is only 2.9 times as powerful as a 1 megaton bomb; and a 50 megaton bomb is only 13.6 times as powerful as a 1 megaton bomb. "

Apologies for the confusion!

[JZsBFF]

Yields getting lower is actually a frightening perspective.
A hundred 10 kiloton devices are more useful than one 1 megaton device.

[Evan_Bell]

Corrections:
The B61-12 isn't replacing the mod 11.
The D5 can carry 8 W88s or 14* W76s.
The Minuteman IIIs are deployed with 300kt W87s or 335kt W78s. No 475kt warheads.
The RS-28 doesn't have the throw weight to carry a 50Mt yield. It'll carry 16x 1Mt warheads of the same type carried by the R-36 it is to replace.

[patrickwalsh]

B-61 Mod 11, Mod 12 and Mod 13. Dial-a-yield and modern safety features to include latest PAL.

[TypicalBritishperson]

Interesting demonstration of the splash zones

[verdebusterAP]

its not about power, its about delivery and flexibility and the US has better options than Russia

[Terryrouge]

I love how you used Moscow for scale 😂

[Watchandcutgearchannel]

I actually get excited every Alex releases a new video with that notification!!!.. fantastic content.. well done as always

[michelleresistance]

So Russia is claiming Tsar Bomba levels of yield on an ICBM, presumably with a new and totally untested warhead design. How much do we believe them?

[briangriffiths]

That made for cheery breakfast time viewing here in the UK!

[VeracityMedia]

“It’s not the end of the world but you can see it from here.”

[ibnorml]

Some of the rumored new developments sound quite interesting. One DARPA program I have heard about (but never been able to confirm) is an effort to eliminate the need for a fission device to initiate a hydrogen fusion reaction. If ever successful, it would mean that one could build a thermonuclear bomb (a hydrogen bomb) as small as a travel case. Won't that be grand...

[fredferd]

The question is pointless. If a bomb can destroy a city, it can destroy a city. Doesn't matter how much "overkill" there is. You can drown in ten feet of water just as easily as you could in a hundred feet of water.

[matthewhuszarik]

The British version of the Trident 2 carries up to 12 war heads the US version can carry up to 14.

[Teach]

Has the USAF ever developed glide kits for the gravity bombs (e.g. B61)? It seems like an obvious idea, but there may also be an obvious reason why not?

[michaeld]

Ive been looking for the Russian and Chinese version of this video.

If you google “most powerful Russian Nuclear warhead” it will all say Tsar bomba, but that was never an operational weapon.

[cmcc]

Perfect length for your video.
Thank you.

[joro]

Wait! The Super Hornet is going to carry nukes?

[mikew]

RS-28 Sarmat has 50 mega tons of potatoes in it?

[lightspeedvictory]

I thought that the B-83 was being retired, if it hasn’t been already