W89
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The W89 was an American thermonuclear warhead design intended for use on the AGM-131 SRAM II air to ground nuclear missile.
What was to become the W89 design was awarded to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the mid-1980s. It entered Phase 2A technical definition and cost study in November, 1986. It entered Phase 3 development engineering and was assigned the numerical designation W89 in January 1988.
The W89 design was a 13.3 inch diameter by 40.8 inch long weapon, with a weight of 324 pounds and yield of 200 kilotons.
The design was cancelled in September 1991 along with the SRAM II missile, prior to production of any units, though some test devices may have been manufactured.
Reused plutonium pits
According to one source, the plutonium cores (technically known as pits) of the W89 warheads were planned to be reused from existing W68 warhead pits, which were surplus at the time. [BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE Southern Anti-Plutonium Campaign], Accessed 2006-05-07See also
References
External links
- [University of California 1989 nuclear weapons labs status report]
- [Allbombs.html] at the Nuclear Weapon Archive at [nuclearweaponarchive.org]
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