America's Last Cold War Nuclear Megabombs To Be Dismantled

Pantex officials say this "ensures that the Cold War system will never again be part of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile." Courtesy of Pantex

Last Nuclear ‘Monster Weapon’ Gets Dismantled -- The Danger Room

In the 1960s, the skies above the United States were patrolled by agents of the apocalypse. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses circled the North American continent, 24 hours a day, cradling two megabombs in their bellies. Those B-53 bombs each weighed 10,000 pounds. Were one to drop on the White House, a nine-megaton yield would destroy all life out into suburban Maryland and Virginia.

It was the ultimate Cold War weapon, the one that Major Kong would have ridden into Armageddon at the end of Dr. Strangelove. And on Tuesday, it will no longer exist.

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More News On The Dismantling of America's Last Cold War Megabombs

U.S. Dismantles Last 10,000 Pound Cold-war Era Nuclear Bomb -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Last B53 nuclear bomb to be dismantled today -- Star Telegram
Pantex dismantles last of the 'big dogs' -- Amarillo
Last Cold War-era B53 Nuclear Weapon Dismantlement Commemoration Set For Oct. 25 -- Ottawa Citizen