The W34 was an American
nuclear bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
developed and deployed during the mid-1960s.
Dimensions of the W34 are diameter and long. The device core weighs depending on model. Yield of the W34 was 11
kiloton
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. The is a unit of energy defined by that convention to be , which is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a t ...
s.
The W34 was deployed in several applications:
Mark 101 Lulu nuclear depth bomb
A nuclear depth bomb is the nuclear equivalent of the conventional depth charge, and can be used in anti-submarine warfare for attacking submerged submarines. The Royal Navy, Soviet Navy, and United States Navy had nuclear depth bombs in their ...
, the
Mark 45 ASTOR torpedo and the
Mark 105 Hotpoint nuclear bomb.
The Mk 101 Lulu was manufactured from 1958, and deployed until final decommissioning in 1971. A total of 2,000 were produced. The Mark 45 ASTOR was produced from 1958 and used until 1976; 600 ASTOR were produced. The Mark 105 bomb was produced from 1958 until 1965, with 600 having been produced.
The design of the W34 has been described as identical to the fission primary of the
B28 nuclear bomb
The B28, originally Mark 28, was a thermonuclear bomb carried by U.S. tactical fighter bombers, attack aircraft and bomber aircraft. From 1962 to 1972 under the NATO nuclear weapons sharing program, American B28s also equipped six Europe-based ...
by some sources. That would place it in the
Python primary
According to researcher Chuck Hansen, the W34 Python was a gas-boosted fission primary used in several designs of American thermonuclear weapons.
Hansen's research indicates that the W34 Python primary was used in the US B28 nuclear bomb, W28, W ...
family of nuclear weapons. The dimensions and weight of the W34 are consistent with the
W40 warhead, which is more solidly identified with the Python primary family of weapons.
Beware the old story
by Chuck Hansen
''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''
March/April 2001 pp. 52-55.
See also
* B28 nuclear bomb
The B28, originally Mark 28, was a thermonuclear bomb carried by U.S. tactical fighter bombers, attack aircraft and bomber aircraft. From 1962 to 1972 under the NATO nuclear weapons sharing program, American B28s also equipped six Europe-based ...
* List of nuclear weapons
This is a list of nuclear weapons listed according to country of origin, and then by type within the states.
United States
US nuclear weapons of all types – bombs, warheads, shells, and others – are numbered in the same sequence starting wi ...
References
External links
Allbombs.html
list of all US nuclear warheads a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
{{United States nuclear devices
Nuclear warheads of the United States
Military equipment introduced in the 1960s