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W59
The W59 was an American thermonuclear warhead used on some Minuteman I ICBM missiles from 1962 to 1969, and planned to be used on the cancelled GAM-87 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile. A British development of the system using a new primary became the WE.177, which was widely used as an air-dropped weapon into the 1990s. History Minuteman application Development of the Minuteman I ICBM was authorized in February 1958 and by March, the study of possible warhead for the new ICBM was completed. In April, the XW-56 warhead designed by Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) was approved for development. This program required considerable effort and was accompanied by funding issues. Though the intermediate details and dates remain classified, at some point during or before December 1960, a second Minuteman warhead was authorized with a planned first production date of July 1962 and a full scale production date of December 1962. In March ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LGM-30 Minuteman
The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G (Version 3) is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and represents the land leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, along with the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers. Development of the Minuteman began in the mid-1950s when basic research indicated that a solid-fuel rocket motor could stand ready to launch for long periods of time, in contrast to liquid-fueled rockets that required fueling before launch and so might be destroyed in a surprise attack. The missile was named for the colonial minutemen of the American Revolutionary War, who could be ready to fight on short notice. The Minuteman entered service in 1962 as a deterrence weapon that could hit Soviet cities with a second strike and countervalue counterattack if the U.S. wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsetse Primary
The Tsetse was a small American nuclear bomb developed in the 1950s that was used as the primary in several US thermonuclear bombs and as a small stand-alone weapon of its own. The Tsetse had a boosted composite core which used 2.25 kg Pu-239, 1.4kg U-235 and 6g tritium. The nominal yield was 10 kilotons. The design was shared with the UK where the anglicised version was known as Tony. The difference between Tsetse and Tony was in the high explosives used. The UK considered the PBX 9404 too shock sensitive and replaced it by EDC-11. This reduced the nominal yield to 8.5 kilotons. The Tsetse primary was used in the US B43 nuclear bomb, W44 nuclear warhead, W50 nuclear warhead, B57 nuclear bomb, and W59 nuclear warhead, according to researcher Chuck Hansen. After deployment of the B43 two problems were identified in the primary. In 1961 Los Alamos scientists concluded that the primary was not one point safe under all conditions. A long series of tests was needed to develop a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GAM-87 Skybolt
The Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt (AGM-48 under the 1963 Tri-service system) was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by the United States during the late 1950s. The basic concept was to allow US strategic bombers to launch their weapons from well outside the range of Soviet defenses, as much as from their targets. To do this in an air-launched form, a lightweight thermonuclear warhead was needed. Initially, the W47 from the Polaris missile was selected, but it was later replaced by the W59 from the Minuteman missile. The UK joined the Skybolt program in 1960, intending to use it on their V bomber force. When the design added a star tracker in addition to its inertial navigation system (INS) this meant that it could only be carried externally where the tracker could see the sky. This requirement along with the required ground clearance on takeoff limited it to the Avro Vulcan bomber. Several design decisions in the W47 led the RAF to question its safety, so they int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Nuclear Weapons
This is a list of nuclear weapons listed according to country of origin, and then by type within the states. The United States, Russia, China and India are known to possess a nuclear triad, being capable to deliver nuclear weapons by land, sea and air. United States American nuclear weapons of all types – bombs, warheads, shells, and others – are numbered in the same sequence starting with the Mark 1 and () ending with the W91 (which was cancelled prior to introduction into service). All designs which were formally intended to be weapons at some point received a number designation. Pure test units which were experiments (and not intended to be weapons) are not numbered in this sequence. Early weapons were very large and could only be used as free fall bombs. These were known by "Mark" designators, like the Mark 4 which was a development of the Fat Man weapon. As weapons became more sophisticated they also became much smaller and lighter, allowing them to be used in many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
W44 (nuclear Warhead)
The RUR-5 ASROC (for "Anti-Submarine Rocket") is an all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system. Developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it was deployed in the 1960s, updated in the 1990s, and eventually installed on over 200 USN surface ships, specifically cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. The ASROC has been deployed on scores of warships of many other navies, including Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, Pakistan and others. History ASROC started development as the Rocket Assisted Torpedo (RAT) program by Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the early 1950s to develop a surface warship anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon to counter the new post-World War II submarines which ran quieter, at much higher speed and could attack from much longer range with high speed homing torpedoes. In addition, the goal was to take advantage of modern sonars with a much larger detection range. An extended range torpedo delivered by parachute from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teller-Ulam Design
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits. Characteristics of nuclear fusion reactions make possible the use of non-fissile depleted uranium as the weapon's main fuel, thus allowing more efficient use of scarce fissile material. Its multi-stage design is distinct from the usage of fusion in simpler boosted fission weapons. The first full-scale thermonuclear test (Ivy Mike) was carried out by the United States in 1952, and the concept has since been employed by at least the five recognized nuclear-weapon states and UNSC permanent members: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China, and France. The design of all thermonuclear weapons is believed to be the ''Teller–Ulam configuration'', in which a fission bomb primary stage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Python Primary
According to researcher Chuck Hansen, the W34 Python was a gas-boosted fission primary used in several designs of American thermonuclear weapons. Hansen's research indicates that the W34 Python primary was used in the US B28 nuclear bomb, W28, W40, and W49, and as a boosted fission warhead without a thermonuclear second stage in several other weapons. These were the Mark 45 ASTOR wire-guided , submarine-launched heavyweight torpedo; the Mk 101 Lulu nuclear depth bomb; the Mk 105 Hotpoint laydown bomb. Additionally, an anglicised W34 Python known to the British as 'Peter' was manufactured in Britain as the primary for Red Snow, itself an anglicised W28 warhead. Peter was also proposed as a replacement for the Red Beard warhead housed in a Red Beard carcass, and as the Violet Mist nuclear land mine for the British Army in Germany. The W34 used the melt-cast high explosive Octol, a variant of HMX and TNT as the material for its implosion lenses, and this relatively uns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tritium
Tritium () or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of ~12.33 years. The tritium nucleus (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of the common isotope hydrogen-1 (''protium'') contains one proton and no neutrons, and that of non-radioactive hydrogen-2 ('' deuterium'') contains one proton and one neutron. Tritium is the heaviest particle-bound isotope of hydrogen. It is one of the few nuclides with a distinct name. The use of the name hydrogen-3, though more systematic, is much less common. Naturally occurring tritium is extremely rare on Earth. The atmosphere has only trace amounts, formed by the interaction of its gases with cosmic rays. It can be produced artificially by irradiation of lithium or lithium-bearing ceramic pebbles in a nuclear reactor and is a low-abundance byproduct in normal operations of nuclear reactors. Tritium is used as the energy source in radio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B57 Nuclear Bomb
The B57 nuclear bomb was a tactical nuclear weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War. Development began at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1960 to meet a requirement for a multi-purpose weapon, suitable for use as a nuclear depth charge or a nuclear bomb against ground targets. Entering production in 1963 as the Mk 57, the bomb was designed to be dropped from high-speed tactical aircraft. It had a streamlined casing to withstand supersonic flight. It was 3 m (9 ft 10 in) long, with a diameter of about 37.5 cm (14.75 in). Basic weight was approximately 227 kilograms (500 lbs). Some versions of the B57 were equipped with a parachute retarder (a 3.8 m/12.5 ft diameter nylon/kevlar ribbon parachute) to slow the weapon's descent, allowing the aircraft to escape the blast (or to allow the weapon to survive impact with the ground in laydown mode) at altitudes as low as 15 m (50 ft). Various fuze, fuzing modes were available, inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
W50 (nuclear Warhead)
The W50 (also known as the Mark 50) was an American thermonuclear warhead deployed on the MGM-31 Pershing theater ballistic missile. Initially developed for the LIM-49 Nike Zeus anti-ballistic missile, this application was cancelled before deployment. The W50 was developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory. The W50 was manufactured from 1963 through 1965, with a total of 280 being produced. They were retired from service starting in 1973 with the last units retired in 1991. There were two major variants produced: the Mod 0 for Nike Zeus and the Mod 1 for Pershing. Three yield options were available: the Y1 with , Y2 with , and Y3 with . All variants were in diameter at the attachment flange and long, weighing . History The W50 warhead traces its origins to a 1955 proposal that became the Nike Zeus missile. Bell Telephone Laboratories were tasked with evaluating future air defense problems in the 1960 to 1970 time frame, which led to the Nike Zeus proposal. This study showed th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Warhead
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. Nuclear bombs have had yields between 10 tons (the W54) and 50 megatons for the Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent). Yields in the low kilotons can devastate cities. A thermonuclear weapon weighing as little as can release energy equal to more than 1.2 megatons of TNT (5.0 PJ). Apart from the blast, effects of nuclear weapons include firestorms, extreme heat and ionizing radiation, radioactive nuclear fallout, an electromagnetic pulse, and a radar blackout. The first nuclear weapons were developed by the Allied Manhattan Project during World War II. Their production continues to require a large scientific and industrial complex, primari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B43 Nuclear Bomb
The B43 was a United States air-dropped variable yield thermonuclear weapon used by a wide variety of fighter bomber and bomber aircraft. The B43 was developed from 1956 by Los Alamos National Laboratory, entering production in 1959. It entered service in April 1961. Total production was 2,000 weapons, ending in 1965. Some variants were parachute-retarded and featured a ribbon parachute. The B43 was built in two variants, Mod 1 and Mod 2, each with five yield options. Depending on version, the B43 was in diameter, and length was between and . The various versions weighed between . It could be delivered at altitudes as low as , with fuzing options for airburst, ground burst, free fall, contact, or laydown delivery. Explosive yield varied from 70 kilotons of TNT to 1 megaton of TNT. The B43 used the Tsetse primary design for its fission stage, as did several mid- and late-1950s designs. The B43 was one of four thermonuclear gravity bombs carried by Canadian CF-104 jet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
