Red Beard (nuclear weapon)

Red Beard was the first British tactical nuclear weapon. It was carried by the English Electric Canberra and the V bombers of the Royal Air Force, and by the Blackburn Buccaneers, Sea Vixens and Supermarine Scimitars of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Developed to Operational Requirement 1127 (OR.1127), it entered service in 1962 and was withdrawn in 1971.

Red Beard was an unboosted fission weapon that used a composite core (mixed core in British terminology of the time). The composite core used both weapons-grade plutonium and weapons-grade uranium-235, and was intended to minimise the risk of predetonation that was a feature of all-plutonium designs of that period with yields larger than 10 kilotons. An added benefit of the composite core was a more economical use of fissile material. The design was tested twice during the Operation Buffalo series of nuclear trials at Maralinga in Australia – first on 27 September (a 15 kt explosion, after which the resulting mushroom cloud rose to a height of 11,430 metres) and again on 22 October 1956. Although the design concept of Red Beard was similar to that of the Blue Danube warhead, an innovative means of implosion meant that its overall size could be significantly reduced.

Its measurements were 3.66 m (12 ft) in length, 0.71 m (28 in) in diameter and a weight of approximately 1,750 lb (794 kg). Two versions were produced: the Mk 1, with a yield of 15 kilotons, and the Mk 2, with a yield of 25 kt. The Mk.2 was available in two variants, the No.1 used by high-altitude bombers, and the No.2 variant that was intended for low-level delivery by the toss bombing method, and its "over-the-shoulder" variant referred to as the Low Altitude Bombing System (LABS).

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