Special Atomic Demolition Munition

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H-912 transport container for Mk-54 SADM

The Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was a United States Navy and Marines project that was demonstrated as feasible in the mid-to-late 1960s, but was never used. The project, which involved a small nuclear weapon, was designed to allow one person to parachute from any type of aircraft carrying the weapon package and place it in a harbor or other strategic location that could be accessed from the sea. Another parachutist without a weapon package would follow the first to provide support as needed.

The two-person team would place the weapon package in the target location, set the timer, and swim out into the ocean where they would be retrieved by a submarine or a high-speed surface water craft. The parachute jumps and the retrieval procedures were practiced extensively.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States developed several different types of lightweight nuclear devices. The main one was the W54, a cylinder 40 by 60 cm that weighed 68 kg. It was fired by a mechanical timer and had a variable yield equivalent to between 10 tons and 1 kiloton of TNT. 300 SADMs were assembled and remained in the US arsenal until 1989.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Popular culture

In the video game Splinter Cell, a SADM known as "The Ark" is used by Georgian terrorists to threaten the United States.
In the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, the opening level involves Bond obtaining a SADM that is being sold.
In the episode titled "Brig Break" of the TV-series JAG (1995), extremists are attempting to steal SADMs from a naval base.
In the movie Black Dawn (2005) one SADM is sold to a group of terrorists.