The W93 is an American

nuclear warhead 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 ...

planned to replace the

W76 The W76 is an American thermonuclear warhead, designed for use on the UGM-96 Trident I submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and subsequently moved to the UGM-133 Trident II as Trident I was phased out of service. The first variant, the ...

and

W88 The W88 is an American thermonuclear warhead, with an estimated yield of , and is small enough to fit on MIRVed missiles. The W88 was designed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1970s. In 1999, the director of Los Alamos who had pres ...

warheads on

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

submarines from 2034. The warhead will be carried on the new

Columbia-class submarine The ''Columbia''-class submarine (formerly known as the ''Ohio'' Replacement Submarine and SSBN-X Future Follow-on Submarine) is an upcoming class of nuclear submarines designed to replace the ballistic missile submarines in the United States N ...

s and will use a new aeroshell, the Mark 7 reentry body (RB). The warhead will be designed by

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

. The Mark 7 RB will also used to house the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's new warhead, designed in parallel to the W93 and sharing some non-nuclear components.

Design

The warhead is expected to incorporate improved safety features such as insensitive high explosives. The design will be based on previously tested nuclear components and will not require nuclear testing.

References

{{United States nuclear devices Nuclear warheads of the United States

Design

See also

References