Tsar Bomba

October 30th 1961 – The Tsar Bomba, King of the Bombs, Царь-бомба or Big Ivan. The blast yield was equal to that of a blast of 57,000,000 Tonnes of TNT or to put that into context: The weight of 270 Empire State Buildings worth of TNT. This makes the Tsar the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated in history. Think of the destruction at Hiroshima. The Tsar was 3800 times more powerful than Hiroshima. The bomb’s weight was 27 tonnes, and its dimensions were: 8 meters (26ft) in length, and…

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Western Estimates – Historical Review

Estimated start of flight testing 1953 First discovery Bear A 1955 Bear B July 9, 1961 Bear C February 1962 Bear D March 1965 Bear E April 1965 Bear F April 1972 Estimated start of series production 1954 First public display in practice for May Day flyby April 21, 1955 Public display of three (some observers say nine) aircraft May 1, 1955 Initial operational capability 1956 Significant operational capability 1959

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