Shoulder launched nukes?

Popeyesays@aol.com wrote:
>If you are dealing with a fission device using plutonium or U-235 you
MUST 
>have sufficient material to create a critical mass or you get a fizzle
at 
>best (kind a China syndrome thing on a very small scale). In sufficent
mass, 
>no fission. Minimum mass pretty much dictates you're not going to get
any 
>lighter than these things already are. No shoulder launch missile is
likely 
>to get that heavy for a warhead, are they?

>From the Nuclear Weapons FAQ at:

<http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Nwfaq/Nfaq0.html>

>4.2.3.1 Minimum Size
>The absolute minimum possible mass for a bomb is determined by the
smallest
>critical mass that will produce a significant yield.  Since the
critical
mass >for alpha-phase plutonium is 10.5 kg, and an additional 20-25% of
mass is >needed to make a significant explosion, this implies 13 kg or
so.
A thin
>beryllium reflector will reduce this, but the necessary high explosive
and
>packaging will add mass, so the true absolute minimum probably lies in
the
>range of 10-15 kg.

>4.2.4 High Yield Weapons 
>
>A nominal yield fission weapon uses one critical mass of material (at
normal
>density) and has a yield around 20 kt.

>4.2.3.2 Minimum Fissile Content
>...
>Using an advanced flying plate design it is possible to compress a 1 kg
>plutonium mass sufficiently to produce a yield in the 100 ton range.
...
>Fusion boosting could produce yields exceeding 1 kt with this system.

>4.3.1 Fusion Boosted Fission Weapons
>Fusion boosting is a technique for increasing the efficiency of a small

>light weight fission bomb by introducing a modest amount of deuterium-
>tritium mixture (typically containing 2-3 g of tritium) inside the
fission 
>core.

Jeff