Word: warhead
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Almost certainly, an unintentional blast would detonate only the chemical explosives that, if fired deliberately, would compress the warhead's plutonium cores and touch off an unstoppable atomic chain reaction. Some experts see a slim chance of a nuclear explosion in the case of the W-79 artillery shell, but the far more likely result would be a chemical blast that could release deadly radioactive plutonium or uranium from the cores. The safety problems, disclosed last week by the Washington Post, were promptly confirmed in public congressional hearings. The difficulties seem sure to complicate immensely a review under...
...problem prompted computer studies of other warheads, which led to questions about the safety of a far more important weapon, the brand-new W-88 warhead carried by D-5 missiles fired by Trident II submarines. The D-5 is one of the principal weapons that would be launched at the Soviet Union in a nuclear war. Some scientists contend that the design of the third stage places too much rocket fuel too close to the warheads. Conceivably the fuel could ignite and detonate chemical explosives in the warhead while the missile was being handled in port, producing a potentially...
...carried by bombers on airborne alert and designed to knock out Soviet radar installations, defensive missiles and airfields. The fear is that a fire aboard a bomber could ignite the missile's volatile fuel, which in turn could detonate some of the chemical explosives in its W-69 warhead...
...thus decreases the range of a missile or artillery shell. By presidential order IHE nonetheless has been used in all new weapons built since 1985 -- with, however, at least one exception. Even after that date, defense planners decided not to switch to IHE in the Trident W-88 warhead. That is a design trade-off that the Pentagon may soon bitterly regret...
...complete ban on MIRVed missiles would give both nations a chance to reverse what many defense experts consider a classic case of shortsightedness: the Nixon Administration's decision to deploy MIRVs in the first place during the 1970s, which prompted the Soviets to follow suit rapidly. Multiple warheads seemed an inexpensive way to expand the U.S. nuclear force. But what strategists overlooked was the fact that the large number of warheads packed onto a small number of missiles make them a tempting target for a first strike. In a surprise attack, an aggressor could knock out as many...