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The W31 was an American
Photo of a W31 nuclear warhead for the Honest John rocket
/ref>
Allbombs.html list of all US nuclear warheads
a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
The W31 was 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 bom ...
used for two US missiles and as an atomic demolition munition.
The W31 was produced from 1959, with the last versions phased out in 1989.
All versions were roughly the same dimensions and weight: in diameter, long, and weighing . The W31 is a boosted fission 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 bom ...
.
Uses
Nike Hercules missile
TheNike Hercules
The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, bu ...
was a surface-to-air or surface-to-surface missile system deployed around US cities and various locations in Europe and Japan. Most, but not all, of these missiles were deployed with nuclear warheads. In South Florida, half of the Nike Hercules missiles of the Homestead-Miami Defense were armed with the T-45 high-explosive warheads.
Three yield variants, of 2, 20, and 40 kilotons
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 ...
, were deployed on these missiles starting in 1958 and finally retired in 1989. 2,550 of these models were produced. The 20 kt version of the W-31 was solely used in the Nike Hercules system.
A similar variant, the XW-37, was a high yield version of the XW-31. Development started in January 1956. Three months later, the XW-31 was redesignated XW-31Y1 (for yield 1) and the XW-37 designation was changed to XW-31Y2 (for yield 2).
MGR-1 Honest John rocket
The Honest John was a short-range surface-to-surface tactical ballistic rocket used by the US Army. Three yield variants, also apparently 2, 20 and 40 kilotons, were deployed on Honest John missiles from 1959 to 1987. A total of 1,650 Honest John W31 warheads were produced./ref>
Atomic Demolition Munitions (ADM)
Between 1960 and 1965, the W31 Mod 1 was stockpiled as an atomic demolition munition. Allegedly, four of the five stockpiled W31 yields were used in the ADM version of the weapon, i.e. four of . 300 weapons were produced.See also
*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 ...
* MGR-1 Honest John
The MGR-1 Honest John rocket was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface rocket in the United States arsenal.The first nuclear-authorized ''guided'' missile was the MGM-5 Corporal. Originally designated Artillery Rocket XM31, the first uni ...
* Nike Hercules
The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, bu ...
* Atomic demolition munition
External links
Allbombs.html list of all US nuclear warheads
a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
References