Mark 12 nuclear bomb

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mark 12 nuclear bomb" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Mark-12 nuclear bomb was a lightweight nuclear bomb designed and manufactured by the United States which was built starting in 1954 and which saw service from then until 1962.

The Mark-12 was notable for being significantly smaller in both size and weight compared to prior implosion-type nuclear weapons. For example, the overall diameter was only 22 inches (56 cm), compared to the immediately prior Mark-7 which had a 30 inches (76 cm) diameter, and the volume of the implosion assembly was only 40% the size of the Mark-7's.

There was a planned W-12 warhead variant which would have been used with the RIM-8 Talos missile, but it was cancelled prior to introduction into service.