![]() A DOE drawing of the W85 warhead. | |
Type | Nuclear weapon |
Place of origin | United States |
Production history | |
Designer | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
No. built | 215 |
Specifications | |
Blast yield | 0.3, 5, 10 or 80 kt. |
The W85 was a thermonuclear warhead developed by the United States of America to arm the Pershing II missile. It was a variable yield device with a selectable yield of 0.3, 5, 10 or 80 kt.[1][2]
Overview
The Pershing Ia missile was armed with a 400 kiloton W50 warhead. By the early 1970s it was clear that this was far too large to allow the missile to be used as a tactical nuclear weapon — by this time 400 kt was larger than many strategic warheads. The Pershing II had a high accuracy maneuverable reentry vehicle (MARV) equipped with a radar terminal guidance system which allowed it use the lower yield W85 warhead. The warhead was derived from the B61 Mod 3 and utilised the same pit in the primary stage of the warhead.[3]
After the Pershing missiles were scrapped, all of the W85 warheads produced were modified into B61 Mod 10 bombs[4][5] 215 W85 warheads were manufactured.[6]
References
- ^ "The B61 Bomb". www.nuclearweaponarchive.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
- ^ "List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons". www.nuclearweaponarchive.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
- ^ Jill C Fahrenholtz (September 1997). Development of an Automated Pit Packaging System for Pantex (PDF) (Report). Sandia National Labs. p. 15. doi:10.2172/534478. S2CID 107183716. SAND 97-2163. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
- ^ "The B61 Bomb". www.nuclearweaponarchive.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
- ^ Pike, John. "B61". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
- ^ Kristensen, Hans; Norris, Robert (27 November 2015). "The B61 family of nuclear bombs". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 70 (3): 79–84. doi:10.1177/0096340214531546. S2CID 146744069.