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Old 27-02-2015, 11:59 AM
clive milne
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clive milne is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Freo WA
Posts: 1,443
Sounds interesting...
I think the comment needs to be made though that the very latest weapon tech is not made public.
Many years ago, I worked for a guy who was ex-US airforce. His role was 'nuclear weapons systems' He made one comment that stuck in my mind; basically, there were weapons available for use back in the days of the Vietnam war that are still classified today... he didn't elaborate further, but implicitly they were used with absolute discretion if at all. I suspect one of the things he was referring to was a low yield fusion device.
ie) there is a way to initiate a fusion reaction that doesn't require a fission trigger. The implications are staggering. It would be feasible to build a device the size of a baseball, have no lower critical mass (so you can dial in your desired yield) and weigh as little as 4kg, it would have no fall-out and could be configured to act as a Neutron bomb.
When I first heard about this, I dismissed it as fantasy.
After reading about South Africa's nuclear program, here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mini-Nuke-.../dp/0670869252
I am now convinced that it is real.

Incidentally, Sam Cohen (inventer of the Neutron Bomb) is on record stating that the technology not only exists but had been highly developed by the Soviets for quite some time. His point was that the existence of such a weapon meant that any effort to control nuclear proliferation based on fissile material was thus hopeless.

Last edited by clive milne; 27-02-2015 at 12:15 PM.
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