Atlas Trail
The Nuclear Arsenal: From the Hydrogen Bomb to the Agni-V
This path follows nuclear delivery from the first full-scale thermonuclear test in 1952 to the long-range missiles of the twenty-first century. It moves from the bomb itself to the bombers, submarine missiles, battlefield weapons and ballistic and cruise missiles built to carry it.
Stop 1 of 10.
Weapons Systems
The test code-named Ivy Mike, carried out by the United States in the Pacific in 1952, was the first full-scale thermonuclear test. A smaller fission bomb triggers a fusion stage, which lets yields climb many times beyond a fission-only weapon.
Stop 2 of 10.
Weapons Systems
Production began in April 1956 on this heavy American thermonuclear bomb, which could reach about 10 megatons. All 920 were retired between August 1961 and January 1962, a short service life for such a weapon.
Stop 3 of 10.
Weapons Systems
This Soviet turboprop strategic bomber entered service in 1956 and carried the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, in the 1961 test over Novaya Zemlya. Upgraded Tu-95MS aircraft still fly today.
Stop 4 of 10.
Weapons Systems
Polaris was the United States Navy first submarine-launched ballistic missile. First launched successfully from a submerged submarine in July 1960, it entered service in 1961 and was carried aboard 41 submarines. The Royal Navy used it until 1996.
Stop 5 of 10.
Weapons Systems
At the opposite extreme from the megaton bombs, this US Army recoilless smoothbore gun fired an M388 projectile with a yield of 10 to 20 tons of TNT equivalent. It entered service in May 1961 and stayed fielded until 1971.
Stop 6 of 10.
Weapons Systems
The Soviet R-36 family began with the SS-9 Scarp, which entered service in 1968 after flight tests finished that May. Its R-36M2 Voevoda descendant carries up to ten independently targetable warheads, and about 46 remained in Russian service as of 2020.
Stop 7 of 10.
Weapons Systems
First deployed to West Germany in November 1983, this maneuverable-reentry ballistic missile could strike targets about 1,770 kilometers away. It fed the Euromissile crisis and was eliminated under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the last ones destroyed by 1991.
Stop 8 of 10.
Weapons Systems
Entering service in December 2000, the Topol-M was the first Russian ICBM developed after the Soviet collapse. It is a solid-fueled missile with a range of about 11,000 kilometers, deployable from a silo or a road-mobile launcher.
Stop 9 of 10.
Weapons Systems
Accepted for service around 2012, this Russian air-launched cruise missile has a range of about 3,500 kilometers and is designed to be launched from strategic bombers. A nuclear-armed variant, the Kh-102, exists alongside it, and the Kh-101 was first used in combat over Syria in 2015.
Stop 10 of 10.
Weapons Systems
First flight-tested in April 2012 and deployed with India Strategic Forces Command by 2018, the Agni-V is a road-mobile, three-stage solid-fuel missile. India calls it intermediate-range, though outside analysts rate it as intercontinental.
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