Published on : 14/05/2024

On May 14, 1965, China successfully conducted its first atomic bomb aerial explosion test, which was also China's second nuclear test.

In order to break the superpower's nuclear monopoly, after successfully developing atomic bombs, China also decided to master missile nuclear weapons, and develop small nuclear warheads suitable for missile carriage.

At that time, China had mastered the nuclear theory related to fission reactions, and understood the physical and chemical properties of basic nuclear weapon materials, possessing the capability to manufacture nuclear devices and conduct nuclear tests.

However, nuclear warheads that could be carried by missiles required not only to be miniaturized but also powerful, and had to withstand the test of reentry environment.

Therefore, researchers proposed to conduct an atomic bomb aerial explosion test to verify the technical performance of the atomic bomb in dynamics and provide reference data for the development of nuclear warheads.

On the day of the experiment, a bomber loaded with an atomic bomb took off from a certain airport in the northwest.

When flying over the test site, the pilot released the atomic bomb according to the preset procedure. The atomic bomb finally exploded in the air at a certain height from the ground, and within the required range of the centre point of the explosion target, accurately achieving an aerial explosion, and the test reached the preset goal.

From then on, China made breakthrough progress in the development of miniaturized nuclear bombs, laying a solid foundation for the development of missile nuclear weapons.

At the same time, China also became the fifth country in the world to possess nuclear weapons and be able to conduct aerial bombing, following the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France.