View source for W88

{{Short description|United States thermonuclear warhead}}
{{Other uses|W88 (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name           = W88
| image          = W-88 warhead diagram.svg
| image_size     = 250
| caption        = Diagram of the W88 warhead: In 1999, information was released showing that in the W88, the ''primary'' (top) is egg-shaped, while the ''secondary'' (bottom) is spherical.
| origin         =
| type           = [[Nuclear weapon]]
<!-- Type selection -->
| is_explosive   = yes
<!-- Service history -->
| service        = 1989–present
| used_by        = [[United States Navy]]
| wars           =
<!-- Production history -->
|designer        = [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]]
|design_date     = 1970s to 1980s
|manufacturer    = [[Rocky Flats]]
|unit_cost       =
|production_date = 1988–1989 (full production)
|number          = ~400
|variants        =
<!-- General specifications -->
|spec_label      =
|weight          = 175-360 kg<ref name="W88/W76 weight" /><ref name="auto" />
|length          = Approximately {{convert|60|inch|cm}}<ref name=Hansen>{{cite book |last=Hansen |first=Chuck |date=2007 |title=Swords of Armageddon – Volume VI |publisher=Chukelea Publications |page=475 |isbn=978-0-9791915-6-5}}</ref>
|part_length     =
|width           =
|height          =
|diameter        = {{convert|18|inch|cm}}<ref name="Hansen" />
<!-- Explosive specifications -->
|filling         =
|filling_weight  =
|detonation      = Contact, airburst
|yield           = {{convert|475|ktonTNT}}
}}
[[File:MC3810 Mk5 AF&F.jpg|thumb|MC3810 Mk5 Arming, Fuzing and Firing system used on the W88|320px]]
The '''W88''' is an American [[thermonuclear weapon|thermonuclear warhead]], with an estimated yield of {{convert|475|ktonTNT}},<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/W88.html |title=The W88 Warhead }}</ref> and is small enough to fit on [[Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle|MIRVed]] missiles.  The W88 was designed at the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] in the 1970s. In 1999, the director of Los Alamos who had presided over its design described it as "the most advanced U.S. nuclear warhead".<ref>Harold M. Agnew (17 May 1999), [https://fas.org/irp/ops/ci/agnewwsj.html "Letter: Looking for Spies in Nuclear Kitchen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001347/http://fas.org/irp/ops/ci/agnewwsj.html |date=2016-03-04 }}, ''The Wall Street Journal'', p. A27.</ref> As of 2021, the latest version is called the W88 ALT 370,<ref>{{cite press release |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=W88 warhead program performs successful tests |url=https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/w88_tests/#.WDCDqnfMyY0 |newspaper=Sandia Labs News Releases |publisher=[[Sandia National Laboratories|Sandia Corporation]] |date=October 28, 2014 |access-date=November 19, 2016 |archive-date=November 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120010212/https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/w88_tests/#.WDCDqnfMyY0 |url-status=live }}</ref> the first unit of which came into production on 1 July, 2021, after 11 years of development.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41531/first-improved-w88-nuclear-warhead-for-navys-trident-missiles-rolls-off-the-assembly-line |title=First Improved W88 Nuclear Warhead for Navy's Trident Missiles Rolls Off the Assembly Line |date=13 July 2021 |access-date=14 July 2021 |publisher=thedrive.com |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714002913/https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41531/first-improved-w88-nuclear-warhead-for-navys-trident-missiles-rolls-off-the-assembly-line |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[UGM-133 Trident II|Trident II]] [[submarine-launched ballistic missile]] (SLBM) can be armed with up to eight W88 warheads (Mark 5 re-entry vehicle) or twelve 100 kt [[W76]] warheads (Mark 4 re-entry vehicle), but it is limited to eight warheads under the [[Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty]].
== History ==
Much of the work was done on the warhead by Los Alamos National Laboratory before the introduction of the [[Threshold Test Ban Treaty]] in 1976. A production run of 4000 to 5000 warheads was initially envisioned but production was halted after the November 1989 raid on the [[Rocky Flats Plant]] by the FBI. Consideration was given to restarting production but the program was terminated in January 1992. Final production was approximately 400 warheads.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/W88.html |title=The W88 Warhead |last=Sublette |first=Carey |access-date=7 September 2018 }}</ref>
== Design revelations ==
Information about the W88 has implied that it is a variation of the [[Thermonuclear weapon|standard Teller–Ulam design for thermonuclear weapons]]. In a thermonuclear weapon such as the W88, [[nuclear fission]] in the ''primary'' stage causes [[nuclear fusion]] in the ''secondary'' stage, which results in the main explosion. Although the weapon employs fusion in the ''secondary'', most of the explosive yield comes from fission of nuclear material in the ''primary, secondary,'' and casing.<ref name="ConvSpy_PP41–42">{{harvnb|Stober|Hoffman|2001|pp=41–42}}</ref>
In 1999, the ''[[San Jose Mercury News]]'' reported that the W88 had an egg-shaped ''primary'' and a spherical ''secondary'', which were together inside a radiation case known as the "peanut" for its shape.{{refn|The code-name of the ''primary'' was ''Komodo'' and that of the ''secondary'' was ''Cursa'', which come from the names of a ferocious lizard, the [[Komodo dragon]], and a bright star, [[Cursa]].<ref name="ConvSpy_P41">{{harvnb|Stober|Hoffman|2001|p=41}}</ref> |group="Note"}}   Four months later, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that in 1995 a supposed [[double agent]] from the [[People's Republic of China]] delivered information indicating that China knew these details about the W88 warhead as well, supposedly through espionage (this line of investigation eventually resulted in the abortive trial of [[Wen Ho Lee]]). If these stories are true, it would indicate a variation of the Teller-Ulam design which would allow for the miniaturization required for small MIRVed warheads.<ref name=ConvSpy>{{cite book |last1=Stober |first1=Dan |last2=Hoffman |first2=Ian |year=2001 |title=A Convenient Spy: Wen Ho Lee and the Politics of Nuclear Espionage |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=THOhwxvPrT0C |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-2378-2 |access-date=2016-12-21 |archive-date=2017-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324150615/https://books.google.com/books?id=THOhwxvPrT0C |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Howard Morland, "[https://fas.org/sgp/eprint/morland.html The holocaust bomb: A question of time] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627010351/https://fas.org/sgp/eprint/morland.html |date=2019-06-27 }}" (February 2003)</ref><ref name=NYT.Spies>{{cite news |last=Broad |first=William J. |author-link=William Broad |date=September 7, 1999 |title=Spies vs. Sweat: The Debate Over China's Nuclear Advance |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/07/us/spies-vs-sweat-the-debate-over-china-s-nuclear-advance.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=December 16, 2016 |archive-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918031630/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/07/us/spies-vs-sweat-the-debate-over-china-s-nuclear-advance.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The value of an egg-shaped primary lies apparently in the fact that a MIRV warhead is limited by the diameter of the primary—if an egg-shaped primary can be made to work properly, then the MIRV warhead can be made considerably smaller yet still deliver a high-yield explosion—a W88 warhead manages to yield up to 475 kt with a reentry vehicle length of approximately {{convert|60|inch}} and base diameter of {{convert|18|inch}} while the actual [[physics package]] is {{convert|35|inch}} long.<ref name="Hansen" /> By different estimates the warhead has been given weights of {{convert|175|kg}},<ref name="W88/W76 weight">{{cite journal|title=Nuclear weapons safety: The case of trident |journal=Science & Global Security |volume=4 |issue=1  |page=288 |last1=Harvey |first1=John R. |last2=Michalowski |first2=Stefan |date=21 December 2007 |doi=10.1080/08929889408426405 }}</ref> {{convert|180|kg}},<ref name="Hansen" /> and {{convert|360|kg}}.<ref name="auto" /> The smaller warhead allows more of them to fit onto a single missile and improves basic flight properties such as speed and range.
The calculations for a nonspherical primary are apparently orders of magnitude more difficult than for a spherical primary. A spherically symmetric simulation is one-dimensional, while an axially symmetric simulation is two dimensional. Simulations typically divide up each dimension into discrete segments, so a one-dimensional simulation might involve only 100 points, while a similarly accurate two dimensional simulation would require 10,000. This would likely be the reason they would be desirable for a country like the People's Republic of China, which already developed its own nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, especially since they were no longer conducting [[nuclear testing]] which would provide valuable design information.<ref>Christopher Cox, chairman, ''Report of the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China'' (1999), esp. Ch. 2, "PRC Theft of U.S. Thermonuclear Warhead Design Information". [http://www.house.gov/coxreport/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050804234332/http://www.house.gov/coxreport/ |date=2005-08-04 }}</ref>
{{center|[[File:W-88 warhead detail.png|500px|diagram of W88 warhead]]}}{{Disputed inline|Moorland w88 diagram accuracy|date=March 2021}}
The weapon contains the material [[Fogbank]].<ref name=SecondaryLifespan>{{cite report |author=Robert B Bonner |author2=Stephan E Lott |author3=Howard H Woo |date=January 2001 |title=Secondary Lifetime Assessment Study |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_B_Bonner_et_al._-_2001_-_Secondary_Lifetime_Assessment_Study.pdf |publisher=Sandia National Labs |page=52 |docket=SAND2001-0063 |archive-date=2021-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106081237/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_B_Bonner_et_al._-_2001_-_Secondary_Lifetime_Assessment_Study.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> While its precise nature is classified, Fogbank is believed to be a foam or [[aerogel]] material used in the weapon's interstage.<ref name=WS2009>{{Cite journal | last = Last | first = Jonathan V. | title = The Fog of War: Forgetting what we once knew | journal = [[The Weekly Standard]] | volume = 14 | issue = 33 | date = 18 May 2009 | url = https://www.weeklystandard.com/jonathan-v-last/the-fog-of-war | access-date = 8 February 2022 | archive-date = 8 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190608120108/https://www.weeklystandard.com/jonathan-v-last/the-fog-of-war | url-status = dead }}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[List of nuclear weapons]]
* [[Timeline of the Cox Report controversy]]
== Explanatory notes ==
{{reflist|group="Note"}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/W88.html W88] at the Nuclear Weapons Archive
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/w88.htm W88] at [[GlobalSecurity.org]]
* [http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_archive/080599_china_espionage_statement.htm "Department of Energy, FBI, and Department of Justice Handling of the Espionage Investigation into the Compromise of Design  Information on the W-88 Warhead"]—Statement by U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee heads.
* [http://www.house.gov/coxreport/chapfs/ch2.html PRC theft of U.S. thermonuclear warhead design information]
* [http://fas.org/irp/congress/2001_rpt/whl.html Report on the Government's Handling of the Investigation and Prosecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee]
{{United States nuclear devices}}
[[Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1980s]]
[[Category:Nuclear warheads of the United States]]