Mark 28/B28 Bomb
A Bomb for all purposes
Explosive Power
70 kt or 1.45 Megatons
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
Up to 97x
Dimensions
8 to 14 ft. x 20 or 22 inches
Weight
1,700–2,320 lbs.
Year(s)
1958–1991
Purpose
A highly configurable bomb system
About THE MARK 28/B28 Bomb
Forthcoming…
Gallery
Nukemap
NUKEMAP is a web-based mapping program that attempts to give the user a sense of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. It was created by Alex Wellerstein, a historian specializing in nuclear weapons (see his book on nuclear secrecy and his blog on nuclear weapons). The screenshot below shows the NUKEMAP output for this particular weapon. Click on the map to customize settings.
Videos
Click on the Play button and then the Full screen brackets on the lower right to view each video. Click on the Exit full screen cross at lower right (the “X” on a mobile device) to return.
Further Reading
- Wikipedia, Global Security (note the photographs)
- The Mark 28 and the B28 bomb are the same bomb–military designation systems changed during its years of service
- Sandia National Lab’s 1968 “History of the Mark 28 Weapon” is part of a large and valuable trove of documents at the Pfeiffer Nuclear Weapons and National Security Archive.
- Compare the small size of the Mark 28 bomb to others, such as the Mark 36, from that same era.
- The Mark 28/B28 bomb was produced in large numbers–about 4500 were made–and was in service for an astonishing thirty-three years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was involved in several major nuclear accidents. In 1961 four B28s were dropped over the Spanish coastline near the town of Palomares. One bomb fell into the ocean. In 1968, a bomber crashed near Thule AFB, way north of the Arctic Circle, in Greenland. In addition, there are claims that in 1960 a Mark 28 was loaded on a plane that caught fire and completely burned at the U.S. airbase at Greenham Common, England.
- There is a “Mark 28” nuclear bomb in the popular video game Fallout, but it bears little resemblance to the actual weapon.
- The Hound Dog and Mace missiles used the same warhead (W28) as the B28 (links to American Nukes forthcoming).