W70 was a two-stage, thermonuclear warhead that was developed for the MGM-52 Lance missile by the United States . Designed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , the Mod 1 and Mod 2 version of the weapon entered service in 1973, while the enhanced radiation ("neutron bomb") Mod 3 weapon entered service in 1981. The last W70 warhead was dismantled in February 1996.
5-513: Declassified British documents describe the Mod 1 and Mod 2 versions of the weapon have three yields between 0.5 and 50 kilotonnes of TNT (2.1 and 209.2 TJ), while the Mod 3 enhanced radiation version was estimated to have a yield of 1 kilotonne of TNT (4.2 TJ) The Mod 1 reportedly had more yield options than the Mod 2 warheads. The Mod 3 was reportedly 40% fission and 60% fusion, with two yield options. The weapon weighed 270 lb (120 kg), and
10-507: A category D Permissive Action Link and had command disable, but lacked insensitive high explosives and enhanced nuclear detonation safety. The inventor of the neutron bomb, Samuel Cohen , has criticized the description of the W70 as a "neutron bomb": the W-70 ... is not even remotely a "neutron bomb." Instead of being the type of weapon that, in the popular mind, "kills people and spares buildings" it
15-456: Is one that both kills and physically destroys on a massive scale. The W-70 is not a discriminate weapon, like the neutron bomb—which, incidentally, should be considered a weapon that "kills enemy personnel while sparing the physical fabric of the attacked populace, and even the populace too." Sandia Weapon Review: Nuclear Weapon Characteristics Handbook (PDF) (Report). Sandia National Labs. September 1990. SAND90-1238. Archived (PDF) from
20-576: The original on 2022-01-12. This article related to nuclear weaponry is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . W63 (nuclear warhead) The W63 was the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory 's entry into a brief competition between Livermore and Los Alamos to design a warhead for the Army's Lance tactical surface to surface missile. In July 1964 both Livermore Labs and Los Alamos started developing competing warheads for
25-519: Was 41 inches (100 cm) long and 18 in (46 cm) in diameter. Mod 1 and 2 weapons were produced from June 1973 to July 1977, while Mod 3 weapons were produced from August 1983 to February 1984. 900 Mod 1 and 2 warheads and 380 Mod 3 warheads were manufactured. The last warheads were retired in September 1992. The weapon was the successor to the previous proposed Lance warhead, the W63 . The weapon used
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