The first decade after World War II (WWII) placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the Soviet people. The restoration of industry, agriculture, the transition from martial law back to civilian occurred under the gradually growing oppression of the arms race and the silent confrontation of two great superpowers of that time: the USSR and the USA.
The engineering geniuses of both countries each year developed and embodied in the metal an increasingly terrible weapon of mass destruction of people. In this chilling race, the Soviet Union became a leader even during the Second World War, and did not let go of its positions until the so-called “Caribbean crisis”. It was our country that first showed the world a two-stage thermonuclear hydrogen bomb with a capacity of more than 1 Mt, namely RDS-37.
New weapon
Engineering research to create a new super-powerful hydrogen bomb began in the Soviet Union back in 1952 in the top-secret and closed design bureau KB-11. However, the main study of theoretical research and modeling of performance began only two years later.
In the same 1954, the greatest minds of the time joined in: Ya. B. Zeldovich and A. D. Sakharov. RDS-37 - a new generation hydrogen bomb - was to say a completely new word in the military power of the Soviet Union. And already on May 31, 1955, A.P. Zavenyagin, Minister of Medium Engineering and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, decided to approve the experimental design of the new weapon proposed by KB-11.
RDS-37, the decoding of the abbreviation of which, according to various sources, sounds like: "Russia does it yourself" or "Stalin's Jet Engine", but in fact it is "Special Jet Engine", got its ticket to life.
Development
Evolving from RDS-3, the new technology took away the main theoretical ideas of implosion, the so-called inward explosion, gravitational collapse. Part of the calculations was also borrowed from RDS-6s, a parallel superbomb being developed, however, of a single-stage type, which was successfully tested in August 1953 at a training ground in Semipalatinsk.
The principle of hydrodynamic implosion of a two-stage charge was chosen as the basis of RDS-37. Precisely calculating the sequential reaction mechanism at that time was rather difficult. Engineering and computing capabilities of the early fifties can not even be compared with existing computer technology. Modeling the compression mode of the secondary module, close to the spherically-symmetric mode (implosion, from the English implosion - "internal explosion") was carried out on the domestic "supercomputer" of that time - on the Strela electronic computer.
Differences RDS-37
The characteristics of the new weapons were kept secret from ordinary inhabitants. Even today, it is sometimes difficult to find reliable materials about its parameters. It is well known that the main difference between the new bomb was the use of nuclei of uranium-238 isotopes. The charge was made of deuterium lithium-6, a very stable substance that excludes spontaneous detonation.
The energy of the secondary explosion, based on the principles of hydrodynamic implosion, should not be lower than the energy of the primary explosion. Observers noted a double clap during the passage of the shock wave with a sound resembling the strongest and sharp crack of a lightning discharge. The light radiation was of such intensity that at a distance of three kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, paper instantly ignited and burned.
Polygon
To test the new RDS-37 thermonuclear bomb, whose power was estimated at about 3 Mt, the 2nd State Central Testing Ground (2 GTSIP) was chosen in the closed city of Kurchatov, 130 km northwest of the city of Semipalatinsk (the territory of modern Kazakhstan) . In some maps and classified materials, this city was also designated as "Moscow-400", "Bank" (the Irtysh River flows nearby), "Semipalatinsk-21", "Konechnaya" (by the name of the railway station), as well as "Moldary" (a village that became part of the city of Kurchatov). The charge power during the tests, it was decided to halve, to approximately 1.6 Mt.
Training
To reduce the radiation impact on the surrounding infrastructure, it was decided to activate the RDS-37 charge at an altitude of 1,500 meters above ground level. To reduce the detrimental effects of the explosion on the carrier aircraft, measures were taken to increase the distance and measures to reduce the thermal effect on it. The Tu-16 was chosen as the carrier aircraft. The varnish was washed off from the bottom of the fuselage, all dark surfaces were painted white, the seals were replaced by more fire-resistant ones. The bomb itself was equipped with a parachute, to reduce access to the planned explosion height.
The Soviet Union carefully prepared for the test of the new RDS-37 bomb. The tests were carried out in closed airspace, the carrier aircraft was guarded by MiG-17 fighters, flight and equipment control was conducted from the command posts of the aircraft.
For the collection of air samples from the effects of the explosion and monitoring the movement of the radioactive cloud, several IL-28s were specially allocated. November 20, 1955, in the morning, at 9.30 a.m., a plane with a bomb mounted on special suspensions started from the Jean-Semey airfield. However, things did not go as planned.
An emergency situation
The chief meteorologist of the country E.K. Fedorov was personally responsible for summarizing the weather forecast for the test period. The day was supposed to be clear and sunny. However, nature had plans for this. During a single approach to the target, the weather turned bad, and the sky was shrouded in clouds. It was decided to carry out guidance on the radar installation on board the aircraft, but it also failed. For all requests from the dispatcher, the center sent only one command: "Wait."
There was a serious contingency. An emergency landing of an aircraft with a thermonuclear bomb on board has never been carried out. The Center considered various options, including the discharge of RDS-37 away from settlements in the mountains, in the "NO EXPLOSION" mode, that is, without initiating a nuclear explosion of a charge. For various reasons, they were all rejected.
When the fuel was already almost at zero, the aircraft was allowed to land. This was done only after Zeldovich and Sakharov personally signed a written opinion on the safety of landing an aircraft with a hydrogen bomb on board.
Explosion
Two days later, the tests were successfully carried out. RDS-37 was successfully dropped from a carrier aircraft at an altitude of 12 km, which exploded at an altitude of 1550 m. Moving at a speed of 870 km / h, the Tu-16 was already at a distance of 15 km from the epicenter of the explosion, but the shock wave reached it exactly through 224 seconds. The crew felt a strong thermal effect on exposed areas of the body.
7 minutes after the RDS-37 explosion, the diameter of the "mushroom" reached 30 km, and its height was 14 km.