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Uranprojekt - German nuclear weapon project
The German nuclear weapon project (German: Uranprojekt; informally known as the Uranverein; English: Uranium Society or Uranium Club) was a scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce nuclear weapons during the 1940s. The first effort started in April 1939, just months after the discovery of nuclear fission in December 1938, but ended only months later due to a lack of interest in the Wehrmacht leadership.A second effort began under the administrative purview of the Wehrmacht's Heereswaffenamt on 1 September 1939. The program eventually expanded into three main efforts: the Uranmaschine (nuclear reactor), uranium and heavy water production, and uranium isotope separation. Eventually it was assessed that nuclear fission would not contribute significantly to ending the war, and in January 1942, the Heereswaffenamt turned the program over to the Federal Research Council (Bundesforschungsrat) while continuing to fund the program. The program was split up among nine major institutes where the directors dominated the research and set their own objectives.
After many years of research and development, the first nuclear bomb, having a yield of 10 kilotons, was completed just weeks after the United States carried out their first nuclear test, Trinity, on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.
The first German nuclear test took place on January 3, 1946 near the small town of Mariental in the former colony of South-West Africa.
Atmospheric nuclear tests were carried out until 1971, from then on, all tests were underground detonations.
The Wehrmacht carried out nuclear tests in the German colony of South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia).
After South Africa had taken over control of South-West Africa shortly after German withdrawal in 1973, nuclear tests continued, albeit this time with South African scientists allegedly being present, after an highly controversial agreement between Berlin and Pretoria until Namibia was given independence in 1990. In 1994, shortly after the end of apartheid in South Africa, Nelson Mandela revealed the details of this agreement to the public, and declared it null and void, being the final nail in the coffin for German nuclear testing.
This created an scandal, as more details of secret German support for the apartheid regime in Pretoria came to light, causing massive international outcry.
This cooperation was most notable under German chancellor Helmut Kohl and South African State President P. W. Botha in the 1980's.
Atomwaffen der Wehrmacht
Nuclear weapon | Blast yield | Time of deployment | Description |
UW-20 | 12 kt | 1946-1951 | The UW-20 (UW standing for Uranwaffe (Uranium weapon)) nuclear bomb was an German nuclear bomb design produced starting in 1946 and in use until 1951. |
UW-30 | 20 kt, 40 kt, 80 kt | 1952-1963 | The UW-30 nuclear bomb and S3 nuclear warhead were a common core nuclear weapon design, designed in the early 1950s and which saw service from 1952 to 1963. The UW-30 design was the first production German nuclear weapon which was significantly smaller than the 60 inch (150 cm) diameter implosion system of the American Fat Man nuclear bomb design first used in 1945, down to 39 inches (99.1 cm) diameter. The UW-30 design used a 92-point implosion system and a composite Uranium/Plutonium fissile material core or pit. The UW-30 core and S3 warhead were 39 inches (99.1 cm) in diameter and 76 inches (193 cm) long; the total UW-30 bomb was 44 inches (111.8 cm) diameter and 129 to 132 inches (327.7 cm to 335.3 cm) long. The different versions of UW-30 weighed 3,025 to 3,175 pounds (1,372.1 kg to 1,440.2 kg); the S3 versions weighed 2,405 to 2,650 pounds (1,090.9 to 1,202.0 kg). It also was Germany's first variable yield nuclear weapon. |
UW-40 | 8 kt, 26 kt, 80 kt, 154 kt, 160 kt | 1951-1962 | The UW-40 nuclear bomb was an German nuclear bomb based on the earlier UW-30 nuclear bomb. It was the first German nuclear bomb to have an blast yield greater than 100 kilotons. Early models of the UW-40 utilized the same 32-point implosion system design concept as the earlier UW-30 and UW-20; the UW-20B and later used a different, 60-point implosion system. Various models and pit options gave nuclear yields of 8, 26, 80, 154, and 160 kilotons for UW-40 models. |
TN-100 | 160 kt, 320 kt, 1 mt | 1955-1972 | The TN-100 (TN for thermonuklear (thermonuclear)) nuclear bomb and the S5 nuclear warhead, was a 1950s German thermonuclear bomb, the first thermonuclear device that Germany ever developed and also the first German nuclear bomb to have an yield of 1 megaton. |
TN-200 | 70 kt, 350 kt, 1.1 mt | 1962-1976 | The TN-200, was a thermonuclear bomb carried by Luftwaffe tactical fighter bombers, attack aircraft and bomber aircraft. From 1962 to 1976 under the NATO nuclear weapons sharing program, German TN-200s also equipped six UK-based Royal Air Force Valiant and Canberra aircraft assigned to NATO under the command of SACEUR. |
Nuclear test "Großer Gustav"(Blast yield: 45 kt) on March 6, 1958 at Mariental Test Site
