Reliable Replacement Warhead
The Reliable Replacement Warhead ( RRW ) is a since 2004 Currently under development, American nuclear warhead. Its main ingredient is plutonium. Contrary to previous priorities of the RRW is designed for safety and reliability. Until now had to be as light and precise nuclear warheads.
On 2 March 2007, the National Nuclear Security Administration ( NNSA ) has approved the development of the RRW based on the 1991 W89 - set program. Responsible for the development of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Thus the first phase of the RRW project is completed, in different styles and options, including a draft of the Los Alamos Laboratory, and a hybrid solution between the Livermore and Los Alamos were drafts evaluated. The RRW is to first replace the W76 warheads used in Trident II. A use in intercontinental ballistic missiles of the U.S. Air Force is also possible.
The W76 is criticized as unreliable and potentially dangerous.
The decision for a further development of the W89 was especially affected due to the fact that this warhead was tested in underground tests and so further nuclear tests should be avoided. The W89 was developed especially with regard to safety in the handling and accidents. The firing mechanism was made more secure compared to the previous model W88 and the high explosive used was improved among other things, in terms of its fire safety. Objective of development is to avoid misfires of warheads. In particular, older plutonium warheads age, according to the NNSA and are thus uncertain. Critics, especially the Arms Control Association, keep the fact that nuclear warheads were designed for a lifetime of about 100 years and the oldest warheads were in the stocks around 50 years old, on the other hand.
Critics fear that this new development will first nuclear weapons usher a new arms race since 1989. The President of the United States must in the next two years grant the necessary budget for the program. The commissioning of the first warheads is planned for 2012.
The cost of the program to be reduced through the reuse of plutonium from old warheads and by a largely automated production. However, the plutonium used should not be older than 45 years. The use of safe and durable nuclear warheads would reduce the huge cost of maintaining the inventory of nuclear weapons significantly. Currently, a single digit billion - dollar amount spent on the maintenance of existing nuclear weapons by the United States per year.
Specifications for the warhead are not known, but be based on those of W89. The explosive force of the W89 should be about 425 kilotons of TNT correspond to the W76 is 100 kilotons.
- Nuclear weapons project