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Newly released footage shows an atmospheric test of the smallest and lightest nuclear weapon ever deployed by the U.S. The test, code-named Little Feller I , took place on July 17th, 1962, with Attorney General and presidential adviser Robert. F. Kennedy in attendance.

The Davy Crockett battlefield nuclear weapon system was designed to destroy enemy armor on the battlefield, giving the U.S. Army extra punch during the Cold War. The system consisted of the XM-388 nuclear projectile and two launchers, the XM-28 and XM-29. The XM-388 was one of the smallest nuclear devices ever built, weighing just 76 pounds and measuring 30 inches long by 11 inches wide. With its large, bulbous body and small tail fins, the XM-388 looked like a cartoon caricature of a bomb.

Wrecked enemy armor and lingering, lethal radiation would create impassable areas.

There was nothing funny about the XM-388, though. The device had an explosive yield the equivalent of 10 to 20 tons of TNT. This was far, far less than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, which had a yield of about 16,000 tons, but Davy Crockett had a different purpose. It was designed to be used against enemy armored forces at bottlenecks such as valleys or mountain passes, where wrecked enemy armor and lingering, lethal radiation would create impassable areas.

The XM-388 projectile was launched from the XM-28 recoilless rifle. A small, man-portable recoilless rifle, the XM-28 had a range of just 1.24 miles. An improved launcher, the XM-29, had a range of 2.5 miles. Both were operated by a three-man crew and an a M151 jeep could carry the entire system.

One might be tempted to think of the Davy Crockett as a bluff. Surely a nuclear weapon that small and with such a short range wouldn't actually be used? Don't be so sure. Davy Crocketts were issued at the battalion level in Germany and Korea, meaning every mechanized battle group had their own Davy Crocketts to defend their sector against Soviet, Chinese, or North Korean tanks.

The Davy Crockett was phased out by 1971. Believe it or not, today's conventional bombs actually outdo the Davy Crockett in terms of raw firepower. The U.S. Air Force's Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) has an explosive yield of 11 tons. Not to be outdone, Russia's Father of All Bombs (FOAB)—a terrifying fuel-air explosive bomb that generates a powerful supersonic shockwave—has a yield of 44 tons.

These days there are easier ways to stop an attack without crossing the nuclear threshold and sending the entire world barreling toward all-out nuclear war. The CBU-97 Sensor-Fuzed Weapon is an aerial bomb that deploys 40 skeet-shaped munitions that sense and destroy tanks and armored vehicles. A single aircraft with four CBU-97s could bag up to 160 armored vehicles.

Here's a short video of the Sensor-Fuzed Weapon in a live-fire test:

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