Special Atomic Demolition Munition

H-912 transport container for Mk-54 SADM

The Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was a family of man-portable nuclear weapons fielded by the US military in the 1960s, but was never used in actual combat. The US Army planned to use the weapons in Europe in the event of a Soviet invasion. US Army Engineers would use the weapon to irradiate, destroy, and deny key routes of communication through limited terrain such as the Fulda Gap. US Army Special Forces were trained to parachute into Soviet occupied western Europe with the SADM and destroy power plants, bridges, and dams.

The project, which involved a small nuclear weapon, was designed to allow one person to parachute from any type of aircraft carrying the weapon package and place it in a harbor or other strategic location that could be accessed from the sea. Another parachutist without a weapon package would follow the first to provide support as needed.

The two-person team would place the weapon package in the target location, set the timer, and swim out into the ocean where they would be retrieved by a submarine or a high-speed surface water craft.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States developed several different types of lightweight nuclear devices. The main one was the W54, a cylinder 40 by 60 cm that weighed 68 kg. It was fired by a mechanical timer and had a variable yield equivalent to between 10 tons and 1 kiloton of TNT. The W54 nuclear device was used in the Davy Crockett Weapon System.

Popular culture

• In the video game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, a SADM known as "The Ark" is used by Georgian terrorists to threaten the United States.
• In the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, the opening level involves Bond obtaining a SADM that is being sold.
• In the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the top 'killstreak' that can be gained is a 'tactical nuke' - an SADM.
• In the episode titled "Brig Break" of the TV-series JAG (1995), extremists attempt to steal SADMs from a naval base.
• In the 2005 Steven Seagal film Black Dawn, a SADM is sold to a group of terrorists.
• In the T.V. Series Spooks the Russian FSB attempt to detonate a portable nuclear bomb outside the American Embassy in London.
• In the T.V. Show 24 where terrorists threaten to detonate "suitcase nukes" in the US.
• In the novel WWIII: Behind the Lines: Target Nuke (WW III: Behind the Lines, Book 2) by Adair, James B.; Rottman, Gordon L. involves a LRRP team attempting to locate a Special Forces team behind Soviet lines to prevent them from detonating a SADM as they have not received the order cancelling their mission.

See also

• Medium Atomic Demolition Munition
• Suitcase nuke
• List of nuclear weapons
• Mini-nuke

External links

• SADM Delivery by Parachutist/Swimmer (Special Atomic Demolition Munition) Film Clip (full film)
• image of the SADM
• ADM Web Page