Blue peacock

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Blue Peacock (dt .: Blue Peacock ) is the codename of a nuclear weapons project , which the British Ministry of Defense during the Cold War was carried out in the 1950s. This type of weapon can be counted among the Atomic Demolition ammunition . The existence of this weapons project was secret for decades and was only made public in 2002 by the British historian David Hawkings .

Planned mission

The UK Ministry of Defense planned to use Blue Peacock as a defensive weapon in the event of a superior attack by Warsaw Pact forces using conventional weapons. In the British simulation game, the enemy would have advanced across the zone borders into West Germany without being able to be stopped. Tactical nuclear weapons would have been used to prevent the occupation of West Germany . Since this scenario was considered realistic, allied troops received small-format nuclear weapons that did not have the destructive power of strategic nuclear weapons (e.g. Davy Crockett ). To avoid occupation, the "scorched earth" principle should be applied. Nuclear landmines should be near infrastructure such as B. industrial plants, train stations and dams are deployed. It is believed that using these weapons would have cost thousands to tens of thousands of lives.

Structure and explosive power

Blue Peacock's design was based on another, smaller type of weapon, code-named Blue Danube , with which the Royal Air Force was already equipped. The core of Blue Danube was a plutonium sphere surrounded by highly explosive material, weighing 4.5 t. Due to its massive steel jacket, Blue Peacock weighed considerably more, namely 7 tons. With an explosive power of 10 kt TNT , it should have half the explosive power of Fat Man , the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki in August 1945 .

ignition

The mines would have been buried, sunk in lakes and rivers, or placed on the surface. The ignition should have taken place either with a wire via remote triggering from a distance of up to five kilometers or by time ignition after 8 days. In addition, various facilities were provided that would have triggered the device in the event of defusing attempts or fire.

Climatic problems and chicken power

The technicians on the project worried that reliable ignition might no longer be possible if a mine were exposed to low temperatures for longer in winter. One approach to solving the problem consisted of thermal insulation made of fiberglass , which should surround the entire Blue Peacock.

On April 1, 2004, a previously secret document from 1957 was released by the British National Archives , which suggested burying the mines with trapped chickens. "Chickens with a heat emission of 1000 BTU ( British thermal units ) per bird per day" are "a possibility" to keep the bomb warm with a "heater under the weapon cover, independent of an energy supply, at the installation site". The chickens would have been provided with feed and isolated from the technology and would have produced enough heat to ensure reliable ignition.

This type of explosive device was nicknamed the chicken-powered nuclear bomb by the press . The unconventional suggestion in connection with the publication date initially suggested an April Fool's joke , but this was denied by the British National Archives.

It is not known to what extent the proposal was followed up at the time.

End of the project

In the summer of 1957, shortly before the end of developments, ten copies of Blue Peacock were still ordered by the British military, but the order was stopped just three months later. The military leadership had doubts about the project. Smaller and lighter warheads have already been developed. A radioactive fallout after an ignition was classified as "inappropriate". It was also discussed whether it was politically appropriate to deploy this weapon in the territory of an ally. In the spring of 1958 the project was terminated by the British Ministry of Defense.

A prototype of Blue Peacock was likely destroyed in an attempt. Another is in the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) historic collection in Aldermaston , Berkshire .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b David Hawkings, Discovery: Article Blue Peacock the British Army's Forgotten Weapon, (PDF 82 kB) , The Science & Technology Journal of AWE, October 14, 2002 (accessed May 10, 2013)
  2. ↑ Markus Becker, Spiegel, July 21, 2003, article: Atomic mines should devastate Germany (accessed March 15, 2011)
  3. ↑ a b Michael McDonough, Associated Press: Brits Say Chicken-Equipped Nuke No Hoax. In: www.sfgate.com. Hearst Communications Inc., April 1, 2004, accessed May 11, 2013 .
  4. ↑ BBC News, April 1, 2004 Article: Cold war bomb warmed by chickens ( accessed March 13, 2012)
  5. ↑ Chicken Nuclear Weapon: England's Cackling Atomic Bomb . In: one day , May 10, 2013 (accessed on May 11, 2013)