tactical nuclear weapon

U.S. officials view a W54 nuclear warhead (with a 10- or 20-ton explosive yield) as used on the Davy Crockett recoilless gun, one of the smallest nuclear weapons ever made. A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon (NSNW) is a nuclear weapon that is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations. Generally lower in explosive power, TNW are defined in contrast to strategic nuclear weapons, which are mostly designed to be targeted against military bases, cities, industries, and other strategic forces. Though hundreds of types of tactical nuclear weapons have been developed and deployed since the 1950s, none have ever been used in combat.

Tactical nuclear weapons were first developed in the early Cold War for specific theorized military missions, and have included gravity bombs, shorter-range missiles, artillery shells, depth charges, torpedoes, surface-to-air missiles and air-to-air missiles. As of 2026, tactical nuclear weapons are explicitly present (in differing quantities) in the arsenals of the United States, Russia, and North Korea, and tactical capabilities which indicate non-strategic nuclear planning are known to exist in the arsenals of China, Israel, India, and Pakistan.