Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Wed 05/28/2025 View Tue 05/27/2025 View Mon 05/26/2025 View Sun 05/25/2025 View Sat 05/24/2025 View Fri 05/23/2025 View Thu 05/22/2025
2020-02-05 Home Front: WoT
US now arms submarines with ‘low-yield' W76-2 nukes, less powerful than Hiroshima bomb
[Ay-Pee, via SCMP] * US already uses at lower-yield air-launched nuclear weapons, but are arming subs with them for first time
* The yield, or destructive power, of the W76-2 is classified. But experts say it may be about 5 kilotons

The US military has deployed a new addition to its nuclear arsenal ‐ a long-range missile armed with a nuclear warhead of reduced destructive power. The so-called low-yield missile joins other, more powerful weapons aboard stealthy submarines prowling the oceans.

The debut deployment aboard long-range submarines, known as boomers, is a landmark in US nuclear weapons policy. It is the first major addition to the strategic nuclear arsenal in recent decades and is a departure from the Obama administration’s policy of lessening dependence on nuclear weapons in pursuit of a nuclear-free world.

In confirming the missile deployment to Associated Press, the Pentagon’s top policy official asserted that the weapon makes Americans safer by making nuclear war less likely. Critics, including some Democrats in Congress, call it a dangerous excess that increases the risk of war.

The W76-2 has been fitted atop an undisclosed number of Trident ballistic missiles carried aboard the US Navy’s Ohio-class submarines.

The US military has deployed a new addition to its nuclear arsenal ‐ a long-range missile armed with a nuclear warhead of reduced destructive power. The so-called low-yield missile joins other, more powerful weapons aboard stealthy submarines prowling the oceans.

The debut deployment aboard long-range submarines, known as boomers, is a landmark in US nuclear weapons policy. It is the first major addition to the strategic nuclear arsenal in recent decades and is a departure from the Obama administration’s policy of lessening dependence on nuclear weapons in pursuit of a nuclear-free world.

In confirming the missile deployment to Associated Press, the Pentagon’s top policy official asserted that the weapon makes Americans safer by making nuclear war less likely. Critics, including some Democrats in Congress, call it a dangerous excess that increases the risk of war.

John Rood, the undersecretary of defence for policy, said in an AP interview Monday that adding the "low-yield" warhead, known as the W76-2, to submarines which tote Trident II ballistic missiles lowers the risk of nuclear war. He said the United States will continue its stated policy of using nuclear weapons only in "extraordinary circumstances". He also said the warhead will help the United States dissuade Russia from risking launching a limited nuclear conflict.
Posted by Frank G 2020-02-05 10:54|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ]  Top

#1 Our nukes are a lot more accurate than the Hiroshima one now, and we don't need to take out entire cities. One 5kt nuke in a port and oil storage is enough to cripple that city's strategic worth for a good while.
Posted by DarthVader 2020-02-05 11:54||   2020-02-05 11:54|| Front Page Top

#2 Or the entrances to an underground Iranian nuke facility
Posted by Frank G 2020-02-05 12:07||   2020-02-05 12:07|| Front Page Top

#3 Franklin Prime Test, Nevada 1957..4.7 kilos.

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/PbFranklin1.jpg

Having problems with inserting photo so maybe the top Rantburgian can help out?
Posted by Unosh Hupinelet8756 2020-02-05 12:24||   2020-02-05 12:24|| Front Page Top

#4 
Posted by Frank G 2020-02-05 12:29||   2020-02-05 12:29|| Front Page Top

#5 Probably wouldn't be used above ground...

Perhaps the warhead is reduced in order to carry a penetrator "nose-cone"
Posted by Bright Pebbles 2020-02-05 12:36||   2020-02-05 12:36|| Front Page Top

#6 Due to the stealthy delivery platform, my guess would be a 1:many 'fleet in transit' weapon for carrier groups, et. al.
Posted by Skidmark 2020-02-05 14:05||   2020-02-05 14:05|| Front Page Top

#7 
Posted by Skidmark 2020-02-05 14:10||   2020-02-05 14:10|| Front Page Top

13:44 Abu Uluque
13:41 NoMoreBS
13:39 Abu Uluque
13:36 mossomo
13:36 swksvolFF
13:32 mossomo
13:26 Frank G
13:12 Regular joe
13:12 mossomo
13:11 swksvolFF
13:08 Abu Uluque
13:00 swksvolFF
12:59 Regular joe
12:55 Skidmark
12:53 Skidmark
12:52 Abu Uluque
12:50 Abu Uluque
12:49 Skidmark
12:48 NN2N1
12:46 Skidmark
12:44 Bobby
12:43 Abu Uluque
12:41 Bobby
12:38 Skidmark









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com