Dave Majumdar
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA)—which develops and builds America’s nuclear arsenal—has completed production of the U.S. Navy’s Arming Fuzing Subsystem for the W76-1/Mk4A Life Extension Program (LEP) warhead.
The new fuze is a key subsystem of the W76-1 LEP, which should extend the life of the original warhead from 20 to 60 years. That gives the 39-year-old weapon a new lease on life. However, arms control experts suggest that the refurbished warheads do not just extend the life of those weapons, instead, they substantially enhance the capability of the 100KT W76-1, which is mounted on the U.S. Navy’s Trident II D5 submarine launched ballistic missile. That means the refurbished weapon is highly destabilizing.“Completing this subsystem is a major achievement for NNSA and the many gifted engineers, scientists and technicians dedicated to serving our vital national security mission through stockpile stewardship,” said Phil Calbos, acting deputy administrator for NNSA’s Defense Programs.
Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), describes how the new fuze works. “Before the invention of this new fuzing mechanism, even the most accurate ballistic missile warheads might not detonate close enough to targets hardened against nuclear attack to destroy them,” Kristensen wrote. “But the new super-fuze is designed to destroy fixed targets by detonating above and around a target in a much more effective way. Warheads that would otherwise overfly a target and land too far away will now, because of the new fuzing system, detonate above the target. The result of this fuzing scheme is a significant increase in the probability that a warhead will explode close enough to destroy the target even though the accuracy of the missile-warhead system has itself not improved.”
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-super-fuze-the-big-upgrade-americas-nuclear-arsenal-22765
