The Mark 27 nuclear bomb and closely related W27 warhead were two American
thermonuclear weapon
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 lowe ...
designs from the late 1950s.
History and design
The Mark 27 was designed by the University of California Radiation Laboratory (UCRL; now
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Livermore, California, United States. Originally established in 1952, the laboratory now i ...
) starting in the mid-1950s. The basic design concept competed with the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL; now
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...
) design that would become the
Mark 28 / B-28 nuclear bomb and
W28 warhead. The Mark 27 was roughly twice as heavy as the Mark 28/B-28/W28 family of thermonuclear weapons. The Mark 27/W27 devices had a yield of
versus the (later ) of the Mark 28/B-28/W28 weapons.
The Mark 27 and W27 were produced from 1958; both were retired by 1964, as the
Kennedy administration began to redirect funding from manned nuclear bomber programs. Both US Navy bombers carrying the Mark 27 bomb, the
Douglas A-3 Skywarrior
The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior is a jet-powered strategic bomber that was developed and produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was designed by Douglas on behalf of the United States Navy, which sought a carrier-capable strategic bomber. In ...
and
North American A-5 Vigilante, were repurposed from the nuclear strike role to tanker, electronic countermeasure (A-3) or reconnaissance (A-5) roles by 1965.
The W27 warhead was in diameter by long, and weighed . 20 W27 warheads were produced for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
SSM-N-9 Regulus II cruise missiles. The W-27 warhead was withdrawn from service along with the Regulus cruise missile in 1964.
The Mark 27 bomb was in diameter by long, depending on specific version. The three versions weighed . 700 Mark 27 bombs were produced.
Explanatory notes
See also
*
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 a ...
*
SSM-N-9 Regulus II
References
External links
Allbombs.htmllist of all US nuclear warheads a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
{{United States nuclear devices
Cold War aerial bombs of the United States
Nuclear bombs of the United States
Military equipment introduced in the 1950s