B53 / W53 (nuclear weapon)
The B53 and W53 are two decommissioned US nuclear fusion weapons , which for strategic bombers (B53) and titanium II - intercontinental ballistic missiles (W53) of the Strategic Air Command of the US Air Force have been developed.
history
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was responsible for the development . The development of the Mk-53 bomb can be traced back to the first American test of a solid-fuel fusion device. Based on the results of the Castle Bravo test in 1954, the Mk-21 bomb was developed, which in turn was the basis of the Mk-46. The first stage of the Mk-46 was tested on May 11, 1958 (Hardtack Butternut; 81 kT). After the failure of the Hardtack Yellowwood test on May 26, 1958 (330 kT instead of the planned 2.5 MT), the Mk-46 was revised and finally designated as the TX-53. The TX-53 design was tested in the Hardtack Oak test on June 28, 1958 with a full explosive force of 8.9 MT (5 MT by nuclear fission ) and finally implemented in the operative weapon B53 or W53. The bombs and warheads were finally produced from 1962 to 1965 in a number of 340 B53 and around 65 W53. The final assembly took place in Burlington, Iowa.
A total of 54 Titan II were stationed, i.e. 54 warheads were in combat readiness , the rest were in reserve. On test flights of the Titan II, original Mk.6 re-entry heads without nuclear components, but partly with the highly explosive chemical explosives, were used for ignition. The warhead W53 was eliminated in 1987 with the withdrawal of the last Titan II ICBMs. The missiles were decommissioned between 1983 and 1987 and the warheads scrapped.
The retirement of the first B53 bombs began in 1967 with some early models. In the mid-1980s, all B53s were to be replaced by the more modern B83 bombs. At that time there were still 25 in active service. However, it was decided to put 25 bombs that had already been decommissioned back into service and to modernize them. These 50 bombs remained in active service until 1997 and were kept in reserve for a while after that. Today there are no more B53s in the American arsenal. On October 13, 2010, the Pantex facility in Amarillo , Texas, received approval from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to dismantle the remaining B53 bombs . The last bomb was dismantled on October 25, 2011, 12 months before the actually scheduled date.
task
The B53 was intended primarily for use against deep-lying bunkers . In the event of an explosion on the earth's surface, the shock wave created by the high explosive force was intended to destroy Soviet command bunkers. In its role as a nuclear bunker breaker, the B53 was replaced by the B83 and B61-11 . The W53 warhead of the Titan II was intended against large-scale area targets in which several important facilities could be destroyed by a single warhead.
technology
The B53 / W53 is based on a two-stage plate-ulam design . The bomb contains highly enriched uranium (HEU) as fissile material and lithium deuteride (95% 6 Li) as fusion material. Plutonium is not used. There are two versions of the B53, a "dirty" one with depleted uranium ( 238 U) as a cladding of the fusion stage (B53-Y1) and a "clean" one with lead or tungsten as a cladding (B53-Y2). The following ignition variants were available:
- B53
- free-falling height ignition
- Altitude ignition after delay by parachute
- Impact ignition
- delayed ignition after laying down ("laydown" release)
- W53
- Altitude ignition
- Impact ignition
The outdated ignition and safety systems as well as the sensitive explosives were viewed as problematic with the B53. The weapon was modernized in the 1980s, but never reached the level of safety of modern nuclear weapons. Due to the use of conventional chemical explosives (conventional high explosives CHE), the bombs were only allowed to be transported by air freight in exceptional cases, which required prior approval from high-ranking representatives of the US Department of Defense .
The W53 warhead was mounted in a General Electric Mk.6 re-entry head on the Titan II. By omitting the parachute system, the shock absorber and other features only necessary for a bomber mission, the W53 was considerably lighter than the B53.
Data
| Explosive device | B53 Y-2 | W53 |
|---|---|---|
| Re-entry head | - | General Electric Mk.6 |
| status | Retired in 1997 | Retired in 1987 |
| operator | US Air Force | |
| developer | LANL | |
| Start of development | June 1957 (Mk46) | |
| Start of production | August 1962 | n / a |
| End of production | June 1965 | n / a |
| Number of items produced | 340 | 65 |
| design | Teller-Ulam , two-stage | |
| Dimensions | 4,015 kg | 2,810 kg without Mk.6, 3,990 kg with Mk.6 |
| length | 3.75 m | n / a |
| Maximum diameter | 1.25 m | n / a |
| Explosive power | 9 m | 9 m |
| Carrier system | B-47 , B-52 , B-58 | Titan II |
| Number per carrier | n / a | 1 |
| Scattering circle radius | ka | 0.7 to 1.4 km |
Web links
credentials
- ↑ a b c d B53 at nuclearweaponarchive.org
- ^ A b David Stumpf Titan II - A History of a Cold War Missile Program. University of Arkansas Press, 2000, ISBN 1-55728-601-9 .
- ↑ NNSA Authorizes Pantex to Begin Dismantlement of B53 ( Memento from November 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ NNSA press release "NNSA Announces Dismantlement of Last B53 Nuclear Bomb" ( Memento from October 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ End of the B53 Era; Continuation of the Spin Era