Rare Video Appears To Show A Soviet Su-7 Jet Dropping A Nuclear Bomb

Key Points:

• A rare live nuclear weapon test involving a fighter-bomber occurred in the Soviet Union on August 27, 1962, when Lt. Col. A. I. Shein dropped a 244N tactical nuclear bomb from a Su-7 jet at the Semipalatinsk test site.
• Unlike most nuclear tests conducted underground or from fixed positions, this test demonstrated an air-dropped tactical nuclear bomb delivered by a supersonic attack jet using a toss-bombing maneuver with a bomb computer to calculate release points.
• The 244N bomb was the first Soviet mass-produced tactical nuclear device designed for supersonic jets and was later operationally deployed in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, with subsequent improved models developed through the 1980s.
• The United States never tested live tactical nuclear bombs dropped by tactical jets, though it did test a nuclear air-to-air rocket (the Genie), while France conducted a similar live air-drop test in 1972.
• Tactical nuclear weapons remain integral to Russian military strategy today, with training using imitation bombs like the IAB-500 and deployment of modern tactical nuclear bombs on various combat aircraft and missiles.