Current Nuclear Weapons Development

bobbymike said:
As we mightily struggle with our “30 new pits a year plan”
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Completely tangential, but is the American reference to warhead pits equivalent to Anglo-English "a hole or cavity" or "a large seed or stone of a fruit"?

Have always wondered.
 
Kiltonge said:
Completely tangential, but is the American reference to warhead pits equivalent to Anglo-English "a hole or cavity" or "a large seed or stone of a fruit"?

Have always wondered.
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The latter I think. Most pits are shaped as hollow spheres, which are then placed in a spherical array of explosive lenses, which is inside a tamper of dense material (often DU), and in thermo nukes with fusion fuel surrounding the primary fission explosive. So more seed of fruit, with the fruit being the whole physics package. But also technically speaking, there is a hole inside the center of every implosion pit (I do not think any U.S./UK weapon uses a “gun” design for many decades).
 
Josh_TN said:
Most pits are shaped as hollow spheres, which are then placed in a spherical array of explosive lenses, which is inside a tamper of dense material (often DU)
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Ah, no, not quite. The pit is the core/tamper assembly consisting of an inner core of delta-phase Pu-239 or Oralloy* surrounded by a tamper/reflector (In older weapons especially fission only bombs the tamper consisted of depleted-Uranium and TN warhead primaries Beryllium). The pit in turn nestled inside the HE assembly which in turn is inside a high-strength plastic container.

Josh_TN said:
and in thermo nukes with fusion fuel surrounding the primary fission explosive.
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This is the "Sloika" (Layer cake) design used by the Soviets in the 1950s before they perfected the two-stage thermonuclear warhead design (Known in the West as the Teller-Ulam device) this was deployed as the free-fall RDS-6s. All modern TN warhead use a seperate primary and secondary (The main fusion charge) with the secondary usually being spherical (Older multi-megaton designs were cylindrical), the primary and secondary are encased in a radiation-case made up of a high-Z material (Usually Lead in older retired designs but now typically Thorium or depleted-Uranium).

* Weapons-grade Uranium-235 (At least 93.5% U-235 concentration).
 
www.defensenews.com

Congress wants to restore nukes on conventional B-52 bombers

With Russia suspending participation in New START and the arms control treaty's future in doubt, Congress wants to restore nuclear weapons to some B-52s.
www.defensenews.com www.defensenews.com

Congress is laying the groundwork to restore nuclear weapon capabilities on roughly 30 B-52H Stratofortress bombers that had been converted to drop only conventional munitions as part of the New START arms control treaty with Russia.
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Lawmakers are eager to beef up the U.S. nuclear arsenal given Russia’s suspension of the treaty and China’s rapidly expanding strategic warhead production. Opponents of the measure argue that the directives will make it more difficult to negotiate a new treaty while complicating efforts to significantly extend the lifespan of the B-52 bomber fleet first introduced during the Cold War.
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Won't be long before the SLBMs and ICBMs start having more warheads loaded, if they haven't already that is.
 
www.twz.com

What It Will Take To Make The Entire B-52 Fleet Nuclear-Capable

Congress looks set to compel the Air Force to restore nuclear weapons capability on dozens of B-52s after the New START treaty with Russia expires. Congress looks set to compel the Air Force to restore nuclear capability on dozens of B-52s after a treaty with Russia expires.
www.twz.com www.twz.com

www.twz.com

U.S. Ballistic Missile Submarine, 'Doomsday Plane' Take Part In Rare Show Of Force Off Norway

USS Tennessee and the E-6B Mercury were joined in the Norwegian Sea by a Ticonderoga class cruiser and P-8 patrol plane.
www.twz.com www.twz.com
 
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