NNSA Dismantles Last Nuclear Artillery Shell; Battefield Weapons Were Retired by George H.W. Bush

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[chance33_98]

NNSA Dismantles Last Nuclear Artillery Shell; Battefield Weapons Were Retired by President George H.W. Bush

12/12/03 11:40:00 AM

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To: National Desk

Contact: Bryan Wilkes of U.S. Department of Energy, 202-586-7371

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has dismantled the last nuclear artillery shell in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, eliminating the vestiges of a type of battlefield nuclear weapons that comprised a key element of America's Cold War arsenal.

Employees at NNSA's Pantex facility in Amarillo, Texas, dismantled the last W-79 warhead earlier this year. Pantex officials will hold a ceremony at the plant today to mark the achievement.

"This administration is committed to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons worldwide," said U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "We have completed dismantlement of another class of nuclear weapons -- weapons that were a very important deterrent during the Cold War."

"Eliminating the last nuclear artillery warhead marks the end of an era in U.S. defense policy that included ground-launched battlefield nuclear weapons," said NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks. "This completes a historic step begun by the United States in 1991. I congratulate our employees at Pantex who were involved in this piece of history."

The United States introduced artillery-fired atomic weapons in its defense arsenal in 1957. Six types were deployed over the years. The W-79 was designed to be fired from an 8-inch artillery piece. These weapons strengthened deterrence by improving the capability of NATO battlefield commanders to stop a Warsaw Pact armored thrust into Western Europe.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush announced his decision to retire artillery-fired atomic weapons in the U.S. stockpile. The President made his decision unilaterally, apart from any arms control agreement with the former Soviet Union. The weapons, including all W-79s, were returned to NNSA for dismantlement at the Pantex plant.

The Pantex Plant plays a critical role in the surveillance of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. Each year approximately 100 weapons from the active stockpile are sent to Pantex where they undergo a comprehensive diagnostic exam. While most of the weapons are reassembled and returned to the military services, the remaining weapons are subject to destructive evaluation, providing us additional insights into the health of the stockpile. Pantex also refurbishes nuclear weapons in the current stockpile as part of the Stockpile Life Extension Program. The dismantlement of the W79 and other weapons took place over the years as scheduling permitted.

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NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency of the Department of Energy. It enhances U.S. national security through the military application of nuclear energy, maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, promotes international nuclear nonproliferation and safety, reduces global danger from weapons of mass destruction, provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion, and oversees its national laboratories to maintain U.S. leadership in science and technology.

[U S Army EOD]

I would supect it was probably part of the Bader-Meinhoff gang. They were very active at that time. They put bombs in several military targets such as the Abrams Building and Officers club in Frankfurt, the Airforce Officers club in Weisbatten, and several other places. I don't think your incident made the newspapers because they would try to keep something like that quiet. You are lucky the guy didn't nail you because he was trying to kill you.

[archy]

We don't have 8-inch artillery, but there are 155mm guns.

That would be a big surprise to the thousands of army and marine artillerymen currently manning the M110A2 in Iraq and other places around the world. FR redleg ping.

The M110A2 has been phased out over the last decade in favor of the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, both by the Army and the Marines. And the M11A2 no longer appears in the listings for Fire Support equipment in the Marine Corps equipment factfile.

The U.S. Navy no longer mounts any gun larger than a 5-incher [120mm] on any of its active combatant vessels.

M110A2 Self-Propelled Howitzer

The M110A2 is a self-propelled heavy artillery cannon with a crew of 12. Designed to be part of a common family of weapons utilising the same chassis components, the M107 and M110 were essentially the same vehicle mounting different barrels. This full-tracked, self-propelled artillery weapon that fires a 200-pound, eight-inch diameter projectile. The shell leaves the muzzle at a velocity of 2,300 feet per second and can travel more than 18 miles. Ammunition includes standard high explosives, bomblets and high explosive rockets. It is found in some corps artillery units. This howitzer system was designed to provide medium-range, general support artillery fire. Powered by a Detroit Diesel, it is not armored and can travel at a top speed of between 30 an 45 miles per hour. The M110A2 was built by Bowen-McLauchlin-York of York, Pennsylvania. Widely used in Vietnam, the Army received this howitzer in 1963. There were 1,023 M-110A2s in the Army inventory in the early 1990s, prior to the system being phased out of service.

[U S Army EOD]

Recoiless Rifle if you please.

[Darksheare]

That'd be a 203mm or higher, right?
Haven't seen one anywhere, and I'd have loved to have seen one.
The highest we have currently is a 155mm.
But the biggest in the world IIRC is in South Africa.
Don't remember the size of the round offhand though.

And no, there aren't any 8 inch howies around anymore.

[Darksheare]

More like atomic hand grenade...
But it did it's job.

[U S Army EOD]

Its been awhile since I have been around the active army, I here tell you younger folks actually load your cannons from the breech instead of the muzzle like we used to do.

[Hunble]

Actually, you are correct. It was the Bader-Meinhoff gang which was responsible for that attack.

Not many people today even know who they were.

You just impressed me with your historical knowledge.

I was very lucky, since the bullet only penetrated my leg after bouncing off of a rock. Poor aiming by the shooter and darn lucky for myself.

I was able to call by radio for support, and had two Cobra attack helicopters attacking his location within two minutes. Now that was impressive to watch!

But back to the subject: I know all about field artillery nuclear weapons.

It is absolute stupidity to eliminate them from our military options today!

[Darksheare]

*LOL*

[July 4th]

A real "duck and cover" piece of work.

[Darksheare]

Yeah, but as long as the Russians thought we'd be crazy enough to actually use it...

[U S Army EOD]

I agree with you on that. You have to remember that the people who made the decissions to go to rocket artillery were the ones that were shot at all the time by 122mm and 107mm rockets during the early part of their military career in Vietnam. This impressed them.

[brooklin]

Isn't the m-110a2 still in use?

[U S Army EOD]

Anybody in EOD at that time knew who the Badder-Meinhoff gang was. The day the Abrams building was hit, I was going to go get a shirt out of the laundry which was right next to the PX room on the 1st floor. For some reason I changed my mind and decided to go to my car in the parking lot. As I was driving out of Frankfurt, I heard the anouncement on the radio about the bombing. It was in a trashcan between the PX room and laundry out in the hall.

One of my many lucky days I had during my career.

[Oztrich Boy]

au contraire nuclear artillary was always one of Robert Oppenheimer's nuttier ideas.

Position nuclear weapons where they can be overrun by an advancing Warpac force. Second worst idea ever. (The Davy Crockett nuclear bazooka beats it)

[Hunble]

You SIR, have my respect!

You were there also....

[Darksheare]

Nope.
M109A6 Paladin.
Anything bigger than 155mm was removed from inventory and replaced with MLRS.
(Apparently)

[Hunble]

Actually, using MLRS above 155mm was a wise choice.

Much more yield and longer range.

For close up and personal support, where precision is required, there is nothing better than a M109 self-propelled howitzer with modern electronics.

[Poohbah]

Exactly.

Nuclear artillery operated under the same release constraints as strategic and theater weapons. Those release constraints were completely incompatible with the timeline for an artillery fire mission.

BTW, there is supposedly a film of a Davy Crockett being fired to maximum ballistic range from a jeep...which then gets blown a$$ over teakettle by the blast. Yeah, that was pretty stupid.

[U S Army EOD]

At that time was I wasn't actually in an EOD slot. I worked for Foreign Science and Technology. We were in a field team call Scientific and Technology Team Europe. Our job was going all over Europe and the Middle East collecting information on different areas. My area was of course munitions and explosives. We were in the attic of the Abrams building in Frankfurt.

Of course I did a lot of work with the my EOD buddies in Germany. I was able to get the big picture of what was going on all over Europe. I was still in the Army at that time but we wore civilian clothes. It was really a neat job because there was so much information they wanted us to collect, we could write our own travel plans. You always tried to find a munitions facility near some place you wanted to visit.

[Phsstpok]

"Eliminating the last nuclear artillery warhead marks the end of an era in U.S. defense policy that included ground-launched battlefield nuclear weapons,"

In a little noticed press release from DARPA it was announced that the anti-matter rounds for the venerable M14 have been fully tested and are in full production and will be forwarded to troops in Iraq starting in January. In addition the 30 megaton kinetic energy kill capabilities of the just announced Air Force Space Plane have been confirmed and they can start dropping rocks on the Afghan-Pakhistan border to coincide with the dropping of the New Years Eve ball in Times Square. Dick Clark will do live reporting of the fireballs from the capitol of Afghanistan, where they should be clearly visible.

Secretary Rumsfeld wishes everyone would have a nice day.