By 1957, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) declared that it had created a small fission warhead that could be deployed for frontline use by infantrymen. īy the 1950s, advances in nuclear weapons technology spurred on by the first detonation of the Soviet nuclear bomb in 1949 led to great reductions in the size of nuclear weapons.
These developments paved the way for nuclear warheads to be created at a smaller size. It is named after American folk hero, soldier, and congressman Davy Crockett.īy the year 1950, there had been rapid developments made in the use of nuclear weapons after the detonation of ' Little Boy' and ' Fat Man' in 1945. It was one of the smallest nuclear weapon systems ever built, with a yield of 20 tonnes of TNT (84 GJ). It was the first and at the time was the utmost important project assigned to the United States Army Weapon Command in Rock Island, Illinois. The M-28 or M-29 Davy Crockett Weapon System was the tactical nuclear recoilless smoothbore gun for firing the M388 nuclear projectile armed with the W54 nuclear warhead that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War.
A Davy Crockett at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, 1961
