W29 (nuclear weapon)
The W29 was a planned nuclear warhead to the United States .
The warhead was developed jointly by the US Army and the US Air Force from 1954 under the designation TX-29 in the Los Alamos National Laboratory . The target was a short-range ballistic missile warhead, such as the SM-64 Navaho . There were also plans to use the warhead with missiles of greater range such as the Redstone . The warhead was scheduled to enter service around 1955.
Accompanying studies then showed that it would be difficult to develop a warhead with the desired weight. The development of the TX-29 was initially stopped in order to evaluate the results of Operation Teapot (February to May 1955), which had the aim of testing atomic bombs with low and medium explosive power. In mid-1955, the project was finally discontinued as it seemed more sensible to make the existing Mark 15 atomic bomb lighter. This successor model was designed as the W39 or the prototype TX-15-X3.
Technical specifications
- Length: 145 cm
- Weight: 1200 kg (3500 lb)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Thomas B. Cochran, William M. Arkin, Milton M. Hoenig ( Natural Resources Defense Council ): Nuclear weapons databook, 1984, Cambridge, Mass., Ballinger Pub. Co, ISBN 0884101738 , page 12 ( PDF ( Memento of November 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ))
- ↑ GlobalSecurity.org : http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/tx29.htm
- ^ Hansen, Chuck, "Swords of Armageddon," Sunnyvale, California, Chucklea Publications, 1995