History Main / NeutronBomb

The other potehtial use of neutron bombs is knocking down enemy nuclear warheads and spacecrafta. Above atmosphere, where there isn't much medium to create a shockwave, neutrons and X-rays became nuclear weapon main effects. Neutrons, hitting electronics, could quite easily fry it completely, making it useless. And in case of enemy warhead, neutrons from outside blast "heat up" the warhead nuclear fuel, making it too active to detonate properly (it would fizzle, pre-detonating before enough fuel woild be drawn into a chain reaction, producing only a weak sub-kiloton explosion). Due to that, neutron warheads remained main weapon of anti-missile defense during Cold War, albeit later (1980s) nuclear warheads started to receive anti-radiation hardening specifically against neutron attacks.

The other potehtial use of neutron bombs is knocking down enemy nuclear warheads and spacecrafta. Above atmosphere, where there isn't much medium to create a shockwave, neutrons and X-rays became nuclear weapon main effects. Neutrons, hitting electronics, could quite easily fry it completely, making it useless. And in case of enemy warhead, neutrons from outside "heat up" its nuclear fuel, making it too active to detonate properly (it would fizzle, when attempted to blow up, making a weak sub-kiloton explosion). Due to that, neutron warheads remained main weapon of anti-missile defense during Cold War, albeit later (1980s) nuclear warheads started to receive anti-radiation hardening.

* One of the news stories in the first "Media Break" segment of ''Film/RoboCop1987'' is about how tensions in SouthAfrica, reduced to the status of a besieged city state, have increased after the government reveals that they have acquired a French made neutron bomb, and demonstrated their intent to use it as a weapon of last resort.

* The French movie ''Film/Banlieue13'' had one stolen by criminals and kept in the slums of future Paris. The bomb has a fail-deadly feature of detonating after 24 hours unless the heroes storm the castle and disarm it. [[spoiler: Some politicians let the bomb get stolen so that when it blew up, it would take out the slums and most of the criminals in Paris. The disarm code given to the heroes actually arms it. They figure it out in time.]]

[[quoteright:105:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Neutron_Bomb_2660.jpg]]

The truth is very different. The Neutron Bomb is unique, and controversial, in that while other nuclear weapons indirectly generated radioactive fallout that could cause negative health effects, the Neutron Bomb was the first weapon to be specifically designed to use radiation to kill people. Although it differed from inventor Samuel Cohen's original conception, the neutron bomb as designed and built was just a fancy tactical thermonuclear warhead. That's right, thermonuclear. It was a very small fusion bomb. However, while more conventional thermonuclear bombs have radiation casings which reflect neutrons back into the secondary and increase the explosive yield, a neutron bomb lacks this radiation casing; the neutrons are just allowed to escape. They don't contribute to increasing the explosive yield, which is thus relatively small; a neutron bomb will have an explosive yield of a few kilotons at most, although that still exceeds most conventional bombs by several orders of magnitude and is quite devastating. However, it means a particularly intense and deadly pulse of highly-penetrating immediate neutron radiation. Why would someone be interested in such a thing? It turns out that main battle tanks are surprisingly resistant to the blast and heat effects from a nuclear explosion, especially from a small tactical device. Both sides would probably limit themselves to relatively small devices for tactical use, mainly because they'd want to avoid collateral damage to their own forces, who'd be present in close proximity. However, with the neutron radiation increased (the technical term for a neutron bomb is "enhanced-radiation warhead") they can penetrate MBT armor and kill the crews inside.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' gives you the option to use neutron warheads which kill the crew of enemy vehicles while leaving the vehicles themselves undamaged or nearly undamaged, so that you can take them over for your own side. There are also neutron land mines.
* The plot of ''VideoGame/MetalGearAcid2'' revolves around a terrorist who wants to detonate a neutron bomb, so as to wipe out civilians, but leave the infrastructure of the world's technology (such as the Internet) intact.
* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' has the [=N-Bomb=], a grenade designed to explode in a sphere of darkness rather than fire so that it kills anyone in the blast zone and leaves their supplies behind.
* Franchise/MassEffect:
** [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 The first game]] has a lab on Noveria equips with a neutron purge for dealing with any biological experiments that break out.
** The Prothean VI in the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' From Ashes DLC authorizes a neutron bombardment against Reaper forces to cover his creators' retreat into stasis pods inside a bunker.

* A [[HalloweenEpisode Treehouse of Horror]] short on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had Homer the apparent sole survivor of a French neutron bomb detonation ("Le Bomb Neutron"), and enjoying his hedonistic isolation until the requisite nuclear mutant cannibals showed up. The reason for the Bomb? Mayor Quimby made one too many frog jokes.
** There is a noticeable bang and cloud, which adds a little to the realism factor.
*** It also [[RefugeInAudacity runs on an Intel Processor (There's an "Intel Inside" symbol on the side of the bomb)]], and [[WeaponizedLandmark fires out of the Eiffel Tower]]

* One of the communist feminists in Episode 4 of ''Series/AshesToAshes'' repeats the "capitalist weapon" line.

Now, Cohen's original vision was for a similar device; presumably it would be somewhat larger and emit more neutron radiation. The burst parameters (yield, height of burst, etc.) would be carefully managed to minimize damage on the surface; however, the neutron bomb would emit enough of a pulse of radiation that it would kill everything on the ground in a substantial radius from the hypocenter. Cohen intended this to be a humanitarian weapon; civilians could retreat into underground shelters and be protected and when they emerged, although they'd find a lot of dead plants and animals, they wouldn't have to cope with as much in the way of devastation. The soldiers, though, wouldn't have that option, and would be killed; so, this was supposed to be a discriminate, humanitarian weapon. There are some doubts about its effectiveness, though; it would have to be detonated at high altitude to minimize explosive damage effects, but at such a high altitude the atmosphere might absorb most of the neutrons before they could reach the surface and do their work. Cohen made some claims to the contrary, but he's a little, well...credibility-wise, he could use some work in some respects. In addition, Soviet tanks were up-armoured to counter the potential threat of such a weapon before any neutron bomb was ever tested, let alone fielded. Then again, much of the armor for American tanks is depleted uranium, which is great for stopping incoming AP rounds but worse than useless at stopping fusion neutrons. It'll absorb the neutrons, all right, but in doing so, the U-238 nuclei will fast fission, which will actually increase the dose received by the crew. The reasoning behind putting fuel tanks in the sides and doors of certain Soviet APC and AFV designs was supposedly neutron protection. Armor is bad at stopping neutrons, but hydrogen-heavy diesel fuel excels at it.

The Soviet Union described the Neutron Bomb as "a capitalist weapon" because it was designed to destroy people while preserving their property. (And because [[YoureJustJealous they didn't have one of their own]].)[[note]]The business with neutron bombs led to a [[RussianHumour Russian joke]]: The Americans sent Gorbachev a model of a neutron bomb. Gorbachev consults with his top military advisor to see what he should send in response. After explaining that the neutron bomb kills people but leaves property alone, the advisor says that Gorbachev should send a model of a warrant officer: Leaves people alone, but takes their property.[[/note]] They even called it the "landlord bomb". It should be really evident by this point that any landlord who used a neutron bomb to free up a building would be left with a building too radioactive to rent to anyone, if it wasn't ''blown up''.

Now, Cohen's original vision was for a similar device; presumably it would be somewhat larger and emit more neutron radiation. The burst parameters (yield, height of burst, etc.) would be carefully managed to minimize damage on the surface; however, the neutron bomb would emit enough of a pulse of radiation that it would kill everything on the ground in a substantial radius from the hypocenter. Cohen intended this to be a humanitarian weapon; civilians could retreat into underground shelters and be protected and when they emerged, although they'd find a lot of dead plants and animals, they wouldn't have to cope with as much in the way of devastation. The soldiers, though, wouldn't have that option, and would be killed; so, this was supposed to be a discriminate, humanitarian weapon. There are some doubts about its effectiveness, though; it would have to be detonated at high altitude to minimize explosive damage effects, but at such a high altitude the atmosphere might absorb most of the neutrons before they could reach the surface and do their work. Cohen made some claims to the contrary, but he's a little, well...credibility-wise, he could use some work in some respects. In addition, Soviet tanks were up-armoured to counter the potential threat of such a weapon before any neutron bomb was ever tested, let alone fielded. Then again, much of the armor for American tanks is depleted uranium, which is worse than useless at stopping fusion neutrons. It'll absorb the neutrons, all right, but in doing so, the U-238 nuclei will fast fission, which will actually increase the dose received by the crew. The reasoning behind putting fuel tanks in the sides and doors of certain Soviet APC and AFV designs was supposedly neutron protection. Armor is bad at stopping neutrons, but hydrogen-heavy diesel fuel excels at it.

* The Prothean VI in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 From Ashes DLC]] authorizes a Neutron Bombardment against Reaper forces to cover his creators' retreat into stasis pods inside a bunker.

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-->''Gonna drive up to your place baby,''
--> ''Gonna park in your driveway baby,''
-->''Gonna wipe out your neighbourhood baby,''
--> ''Gonna wipe out your parents baby,''
--> ''With a neutron bomb, a neutron bomb.''

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* The Prothean VI in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 From Ashes DLC]] authorizes a Neutron Bombardment against Reaper forces to cover his creators' retreat into stasis pods inside a bunker. This makes questionable amount of sense - while the EMP from such a weapon could very well kill the Reapers, anything that could kill a robot spaceship cthulhu in that way would be equally effective against things like power systems in bunkers, as the inhabitants discovered. Or didn't, since the VI managing power decided that the only hope for any survival was to try and keep one of them alive.

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* A [[HalloweenEpisode Treehouse of Horror]] short on ''TheSimpsons'' had Homer the apparent sole survivor of a French neutron bomb detonation ("Le Bomb Neutron"), and enjoying his hedonistic isolation until the requisite nuclear mutant cannibals showed up. The reason for the Bomb? Mayor Quimby made one too many frog jokes.

The [[HistoryOfTheColdWar Cold War]] applications are obvious: nuking population centers is not such a great land-grab method, but deploying tanks is, and Russia had plenty of tanks.

* In the ''{{Trigun}}'' anime, [[StrawNihilist Knives]]' weapon is apparently one (or at least its fictional version), making the whole population of a town disappear without trace but everything else is intact. [[TechnicalPacifist Vash]]'s one is the opposite, destroying everything when activated but living things - but Vash himself doesn't know it ([[CrapsackWorld not like people usually survive much there after the town is hit with it anyway]]).

Ah, the neutron bomb; that miracle of modern science and engineering. Supposedly, a detonated neutron bomb has negligible if any explosive force but instead emits a pulse of deadly, somewhat non-specific radiation, that leaves things like buildings alone but kills everyone dead. That way, one can rid an area of some inconvenient group while still maintaining high property values. No issues with radioactive contamination/cleanup, either.

See also: BiologicalWeaponsSolveEverything.

* The Imperial Inquisition of ''Warhammer40K'' has many means with which to perform Exterminatus, but the problem with most is that the planet targeted is unusable by friend or foe (even the ''atmosphere'' is destroyed). Virus bombs help by leaving infrastructure alone (and thus of some use to the Adeptus Mechanicus, who worship giant machines and factories), but then it was discovered their use strengthened the Chaos god of disease.

->''Gonna drive up to your place baby,''
-> ''Gonna park in your driveway baby,''
->''Gonna wipe out your neighbourhood baby,''
-> ''Gonna wipe out your parents baby,''
-> ''With a neutron bomb, a neutron bomb.''