History of the Russian Nuclear Weapons Program

Good Morning and Happy Turkey Day! Wherever you happen to be today, I hope it's a happy one with much to give thanks for.

I was wandering around, looking for news to share, when I came across what I'd call a golden nugget in terms of historical record. Buildings could be filled with what has been written in general about nuclear weapons, their use and deployment. However, it's often boring to the point of absurdity or dumbed down to the point of silly. It's hard to find things that exist in that happy medium in-between. Well, I think I found such a thing.

This won't be to everyone's liking or interest, by any means. It's why I chose this forum as a place to post this more as reference to be found by those seeking it, than a discussion piece where I figure it'll bring a lot of activity.

What this is, is 107 pages of a PDF report generated by Los Alamos National Laboratory and makes a careful analysis of the Soviet Nuclear Weapons program from it's infancy to modern times. Movies and books, again, have been produced by the truckload about America's side and the Manhattan Project. Not so much on the Soviet Side.

This is no Manhattan Project movie for laying it all out in an entertaining Hollywood way, but it is a layout of the history in a way that's easy on the eyes and mind. Plenty of pictures and images from past newspapers of the time to modern displays of actual weapons, as the story is told.

So, for a source that should be valuable as well as interesting for a significant portion of our recent history, take a moment if you have one and check it out.

History of the Russian Nuclear Weapons Program
Houston T. Hawkins
Senior Fellow/Senior Scientist
Principal Associate Directorate for Global Security
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico

History of the Russian Nuclear Weapon Program

*** This is a large file at 107 pages in PDF form. Don't click if you don't want that because it links directly into it. Cryptome hosts the file, which means to me, it should be there and available for a good long time to come.