Small yield of tactical nuclear weapons

[Thecla]

TL;DR

How are the small yields of tactical nuclear weapons achieved?

Uranium fission bombs have explosive power ofabout 10 000 tons of TNT. I understand that you can't make a uranium bomb with explosive power of 5 megatons of TNT brcause of the critical mass of U-235. Similarly you can't make an atomic fission weapon with explosive power of 10 tons of TNT because the mass of U-235 would be below the critical mass. So how do tactical nuclear weapons achieve such low yields?

 

[Astronuc]

It would be a waste of material for 10 ton TNT U-based nuclear device. Older U devices have been decommissioned in favor more modern devices. To obtain energy releases in excess of 10 kT TNT-eq, devices are boosted with D+T. Design of nuclear explosives are not for public discussion.

 

[PeterDonis]

Design of nuclear explosives are not for public discussion.

And with that, this thread is closed.