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This article's subject relates to Season 6 of 24.This article is a past or current featured article.

A suitcase nuclear weapon, or suitcase nuke, was a term used to describe various types of nuclear devices developed by the former Soviet Union. They, in their various incarnations, were exactly what the name implied: low-yield nuclear bombs concealed inside suitcases. These devices were specifically designed to be mobile and difficult to detect by the hostile military units and intelligence agencies. The terrorist plot in Day 6 involved suitcase nukes: Abu Fayed and Dmitri Gredenko attempted to detonate the bombs on US soil and, later, Cheng Zhi stole an FB subcircuit board to gain access to Russian military technology.

Before Day 6[]

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Dmitri Gredenko, the man who supplied the terrorists with the suitcase nukes

During the days of the Cold War, the communist regime in the Soviet Union authorized a military project for developing and manufacturing portable nuclear devices. These nuclear weapons were supposed to detonate in the major civilian and military targets in the United States. The results of this project were the suitcase nuclear bombs. They didn't possess the massive explosive power of more powerful nuclear bombs, but the devices were designed to be easily smuggled and placed to the key enemy locations.

The suitcase nukes of Day 6 incorporated a triggering mechanism that made use of FB subcircuit boards. According to Cheng Zhi, these boards were old enough to be easily decrypted with modern technology, and could provide a wealth of information on Russian defense systems. When the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War came to an end, many of these bombs were mysteriously stolen from the Russian military.

Before Day 6 began, former Soviet general Dmitri Gredenko came into possession of five obsolete suitcase nukes. Gredenko, an ardent ultranationalist, believed that the Soviet Union fell because the Russians were too afraid to detonate the bombs during the Cold War. He wanted revenge for Russia's defeat and masterminded a terrorist plot to wreak havoc with his suitcase nukes on the US.

Abu Fayed

Abu Fayed was the man responsible of taking the nukes into the United States.

At first, Gredenko contacted an Arab terrorist cell led by Abu Fayed and promised to provide him with nuclear weapons to destroy major US targets. Fayed agreed and became Gredenko's partner in the plot, but he didn't know that Gredenko planned to betray him and frame his terrorist organization as the perpetrator of the nuclear attacks. The Americans had no information on Gredenko's plans or participation in the terrorist actions, and Russia would avoid accusation and suspicion as the West and the Middle East would annihilate each other, thus making Russia the new leading world power. The man who helped Gredenko smuggle the nuclear weapons to the United States was his long-time friend, Russian consul Anatoly Markov. Markov conspired with Gredenko to detonate the bombs and frame the Arabs as scapegoats.

After arriving to the United States, Gredenko contacted Phillip Bauer, the founder of BXJ Technologies. Gredenko promised to supply the corporation with the bombs and announced that he wanted to dismantle the suitcase nukes and recycle their components into energy production. Somehow, Gredenko was able to uncover Phillip Bauer's role in the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy of Day 5, and in turn, Phillip was able to learn that Gredenko planned to use the bombs to the cause panic and destruction in the United States. To secure the success of his conspiracy, Gredenko threatened to blackmail Phillip and BXJ Technologies, and Phillip was forced to stay quiet to save the reputation of his company. In fact, Phillip later claimed that he had no idea that Gredenko planned to supply the Arab terrorist with the suitcase nukes.

Phillip gave the bombs to Graem Bauer, his son and the CEO of BXJ Technologies, and advised him to dismantle them as soon as possible. Graem hired Darren McCarthy, an employee of Elegra Global, to oversee the dismantling of the bombs. However, Fayed offered McCarthy 3.5 million dollars to obtain the suitcase nukes and McCarthy sold all five bombs to the Arabs. This way, BXJ would avoid serious criminal charges in case their role in the nuclear attacks was uncovered; if worst came to worst, the Bauers would be able to claim that they had simply been negligent in providing the bombs to McCarthy, rather than committing treason.

However, the suitcase nukes supplied to Fayed lacked triggering mechanisms, forcing him to employ an engineer named Marcus to develop a nuclear weapon component, known as "the package", to arm the bombs. Ahmed Amar was supposed to buy this component with $50,000 and deliver it to Fayed. Fayed also planned to hire Hasan Numair to use the component to activate the devices and then detonate them on the US targets.

Day 6[]

NumairDetonation

Hasan Numair detonates the first nuke

Around 9:00am, it was revealed that five of these suitcase nukes were in the hands of Abu Fayed. Just prior to 10:00am, CTU raided a location at 351 Old Mill Road in Valencia. During the raid, terrorist and nuclear engineer Hasan Numair detonated the device. A rough estimate of the casualties was around 12,000.

Hasan Numair martyred himself by detonating the bomb only because of CTU's sudden raid. He was originally planned to work with all five of the devices, so Fayed needed a new engineer. McCarthy located Morris O'Brian, who was abducted and eventually handed over to Fayed. After enduring torture, Morris finally gave in and created a device which would allow Fayed to arm each bomb.

SuitcaseNukeDisarm

Jack disarms the second nuke

A second nuke was left in an apartment building for CTU to find and disarm, buying Fayed time to escape with the remaining three bombs.

It was later revealed that Gredenko had a delivery system for the bombs, and it was intended to be used with all five bombs, each sent to high priority targets, although none of these targets had been named. Gredenko, learning that a second bomb had been used, although later disarmed, had to reprogram his delivery system for three.

The delivery system was revealed to be a set of aerial drones, small planes which could be controlled remotely, and could carry the bombs in the suitcase nukes. Fayed and Gredenko rendezvoused in the Mojave Desert and began to set up the drones, but their location was revealed to CTU before they finished, and only one drone was launched.

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The third nuke is stopped, but a radiation leak occurred

One of Gredenko's henchmen, Victor, was controlling the drone with the third nuke from a warehouse space near CTU Los Angeles. After CTU discovered his location, Jack and a team raided the location, and Jack took control of the drone. The bomb was programmed to detonate only when it reached its target area, which allowed Jack to redirect the drone to another area and land it without detonating. Jack landed the drone in an industrial park, but in the process, the casing of the bomb was damaged and a radiation leak occurred. There were minimal casualties.

While CTU focused on stopping the launched drone, Gredenko and Fayed were able to escape with the other drones and the two remaining bombs. Gredenko planned to get codes to ensure that the final two nukes would destroy high priority targets. His contact, Mark Hauser, was discovered by CTU and Jack Bauer, and was manipulated into helping them capture Gredenko. He agreed to lead them to Fayed for an immunity agreement. CTU agreed, but when Gredenko met with Fayed he relayed information that he was being tracked by CTU. After a failed escape attempt, Fayed was captured by CTU and interrogated.

The interrogation led nowhere, so Jack devised a plan to trick Fayed into thinking he was captured by his own people and the CTU vehicle he was traveling in was ambushed. It seemed he fell for the plan but was delivered a coded message and shot all the members of the undercover CTU team. He escaped, but Jack followed him to a warehouse where Fayed was keeping the last two nuclear devices.

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Mike Doyle secures the last two nukes

Jack shot all the members of Fayed's team. While Jack was distracted, Fayed attempted to detonate the devices. However Jack reached Fayed before they could be used, and a hand-to-hand combat fight ensued, ending with Jack hanging Fayed by a metal chain. As he reeled in pain, Mike Doyle and a CTU TAC team arrived and secured the last two nukes.

See also[]

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