On 5/12/05 2:04 AM, in article , "x-ray"
wrote:

Christopher Campbell wrote:
The W-48 155mm nuclear artillery round is 34" long and weighs about 110 lbs.
It could fit diagonally in a large suitcase,

errrr no it woudldn't. Typical size of a suitcase (and the one claimed by
Lebed) is 24x16x8". And it would take two-three people to carry such
suitcase (depending on the required distance). And that's an every day sight
on the street or airport, right? Three people carying ONE briefcase - it
really doesn't look suspicus at all! By omitting the shielding, your device
will trigger the most cheapest toy radiation sensor (not to mention the
sophisticated ones that would detect you long before you even get into
plane).


I made that same point myself in another part of the thread. Even if you
managed to get the weight of the briefcase down to 60 lbs, you would look
pretty funny trying to carry it. Imagine trying to carry something like the
SADM, though.

The UCRL Swift device was only 5" in diameter and 24.5" long. It would have
fit easily into Lebed's suitcase. Of course, the whole package would have
weighed about 100 lbs, but a suitcase full of books can weigh that much (I
know, AllATP's texts fit into a suitcase and weigh 120 lbs.)

If Lebed's bombs actually exist, they would probably use technology similar
to the Swift -- a linear implosion design using a football shaped
subcritical mass.


The Soviets claimed to have built prototype suitcase weapons 20cm thick. A

Do you have some relevant document/reference that proves this? It's getting
pretty annoying with stroies of "suitcase nukes", "aliens in area 51" and
"We were not on the Moon" conspiracies. (No hard feelings)

Lebed claimed in 1997 that the Soviets had actually manufactured such a
device. Of course, no one has ever seen it and you have to wonder what they
would have ever used it for.

Nevertheless, I think the W-54 does show that bombs of amazingly small size
are possible, even if they are still very heavy. I agree that it is
extremely unlikely that any terrorist organization would have the capability
to manufacture such a device. Stealing or buying one from the Soviets might
be possible, but that assumes a) Lebed was telling the truth and b) no one
has noticed that such a device is missing. Besides, supposing a group such
as Chechen rebels or the Russian mafia managed to obtain the thing -- would
they really be eager to turn it over to bin Laden's boys? More likely they
would use it to blackmail Russia.