Minuteman III was MIRV'ed with three W-78 each with a yield of 335 kilotons - some of the older III's had three W-62's with a punch of 170 kilotons. Both are carried in the Mk-12 RV, but the W-78 versions are based on an improved Mk-12A block.
The III's are currently being de-MIRV'ed ("downloaded" in the actual term) to carry one W-78/Mk-12A. The W-62 is not very safe comparatively speaking so it is being phased out first. Most of the remaining W-78's will be replaced with a single Mk-21 RV from the deactivated Peacekeeper force (the W87 is ever safer than the 78, younger, and can be upgraded to 475 kilotons). Plus, the Mk-21 is more accurate than the 12A - it is faster, smaller, and carries more advanced penetration aids.
The Titan 2 carried a W53 (I think maybe it was the W58) warhead with a yield of about 9 megatons. It was never a counterforce weapon - it was a city killer - meant to deter by the lethal threat it posed to population, and good riddance to it.
As far as North Korea goes.... we will do absolutely nothing about their test.
north korea detonates a nuke
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In the Times article I read a former chief nuclear weapons type of ours who noted that typically first detonations are in the 10-60 kiloton range. He was guessing that the small yield indicated that the test was only partially successful. The North may have purposefully kept the yield that small but that's apparently not the way it's normally done. Of course expecting normal out of the North Korean government is probably asking too much.BrockVond wrote:China's last underground test was 1 kiloton.BigKahuna13 wrote:Make the East Asia. My sense of direction sucks :)
Appears that the blast was < 1 kiloton. Would seem that ole Kim Jong may have shot his load a bit prematurely.
Don't know anything about the subject but it would seem to me that with a small yield bomb like that the goal probably isn't to test the bomb as a whole but some refinement to a specific component. Given that it kind of
makes sense for a first test to yield something closer to what a real weapon would.
Last edited by BigKahuna13 on Oct 10th, '06, 13:57, edited 1 time in total.
What is not possible is not to choose. ~Jean-Paul Sartre
It is hard to say. Maybe they were testing a primary. Maybe it fizzled. Maybe it was a small design.
Full yield tests are a comment on either the manufacturers test and design sophistication or their political aims.
We currently don't test new designs by blowing them up any more. There is no need. We can model the whole thing in computer simulations. We still do conduct sub critical detonations however. If the actual results gel with the predicted ones, then we are good to go.
Full yield tests are a comment on either the manufacturers test and design sophistication or their political aims.
We currently don't test new designs by blowing them up any more. There is no need. We can model the whole thing in computer simulations. We still do conduct sub critical detonations however. If the actual results gel with the predicted ones, then we are good to go.
Thanks for the mammaries! (.)(.)
But a computer sim doesn't have nearly the same impact as the real thing does...yeti wrote:It is hard to say. Maybe they were testing a primary. Maybe it fizzled. Maybe it was a small design.
Full yield tests are a comment on either the manufacturers test and design sophistication or their political aims.
We currently don't test new designs by blowing them up any more. There is no need. We can model the whole thing in computer simulations. We still do conduct sub critical detonations however. If the actual results gel with the predicted ones, then we are good to go.
Personally (and I admit I don't know squazzule about schnizzle) I think they just tested a _REALLY TINY_ bomb...
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Yeah , I saw that too. Technically, he's correct. India and Pakistan ( the last two to test and announce before North Korea) reported that they tested at 12 and 9, respectively. But the key phrase is "reported". Both were estimated to have a yield much lower than reported, with India's first test estimated to be somewhere between 4 and 6 kilotons. I forget what the estimate on Pakistan was, but I can look it up later.BigKahuna13 wrote:In the Times article I read a former chief nuclear weapons type of ours who noted that typically first detonations are in the 10-60 kiloton range.BrockVond wrote:China's last underground test was 1 kiloton.BigKahuna13 wrote:Make the East Asia. My sense of direction sucks :)
Appears that the blast was < 1 kiloton. Would seem that ole Kim Jong may have shot his load a bit prematurely.