Green Berets, Nuclear Backpacks, Cold War, Soviet Invasion, Oh My...
 

Wow, did any of you guys ever hear about this? :munchin
Nuclear backpacks, what will we think of next?

How the U.S. Army planned to use nuclear backpacks to halt Soviet invasion in the Cold War


Device was 18in high and could deliver 1 kiloton nuclear blast
After detonator timer was set troops were expected to stay close by to make sure bomb didn't fall into enemy hands
Mission was so dangerous potential recruits said they would rather return to Vietnam War
Special Forces had to dive, ski and parachute with bomb strapped to them

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 13:41 EST, 30 January 2014 | UPDATED: 17:35 EST, 30 January 2014

At the height of the Cold War the U.S. had a secret plan to help them if the Soviets should try to invade.
Special Forces, wearing 58lb nuclear warheads strapped to their backs, would be parachuted in over enemy lines to set off a devastating obstacle.

It may have been a fraction of the 15 kiloton blast dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War, but the backpack bombs were seen as a valuable asset.

At 18in tall, and encased in aluminum and fiberglass, the bomb could deliver a nuclear blast of about 1 kiloton - the equivalent of thousands of tons on TNT.

Highly trained troops from the U.S. Army would hide the atomic bombs at key targets, in the hope that the wave of destruction unleashed would be enough to halt Soviet advances, or make them rethink their plans.

Cont:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2rw7Nzv7q
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Special Atomic Demolition Munition SADM
 

Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) only a few references on the entire internet. I guess the story/mission is now out of the bag....;)
Funny that a foreign news media was the first to do the reporting.......

They have displays in a museum somewhere with a vid of an MFF infil with "The Device".
My favorite was the called for sniper over watch after setting the device.
"Green Light" All the Way.

I remember when I was in 10th Grp I was given the book about SGM Joe Garner HALO parachute jump with a W54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM). Really good book.


http://www.amazon.com/Code-Name-Copp.../dp/0671864351

SADM
 

I think it was here on PS.com that one of the QPs called the SADM "Dial-a-megaton"?

I don't think any of the SF guys here had a "megaton" strapped to their ass..... (girlfriends excluded)

But that doesn't give the team very much time to get away does it? :rolleyes: :p

Very interesting...
 

Actually, Time magazine did a story on them in the late '70s or early '80s. I've got a tear sheet about them in my "stack of stuff" in the garage somewhere. We stored them on Oki and SF guys came in a few of times to train on them. There was a larger one, as well, plus COL Jack's favorite weapon the Davy Crockett. My first day with an SC had me guarding an EOD team, in June, practicing defusing a DC warhead. Sweat was streaming out of tubes in the sleeves of their bomb suits. :cool:

Pat

We had them (SADMs) on the site I was stationed at in West Germany.
Had guys from 10th group down there quite a bit.