Rumsfeld Seeks to Revive Burrowing Nuclear Bomb

The Washington Post ^ | February 1, 2005 | Walter Pincus

[Paul_Denton]

What would the yield of these things be? I'd like to see us researching higher yield next-gen stuff for replacements of the W88 as well.

Due to leftism and PCism our newest warheads are untested and over 13 years old. Nukes are maintainence intensive weapons that have a finite lifespan (especially when tritium is used). Chances are that Russia's will not work given the very poor condition they are in. We not only need to research new nukes but TEST them as well. Not subcritical but fill live testing. We also need big high yield weapons in the multi-megaton range. We need to bring back the various 9 to 25 megaton warheads we used to have.

[Paul_Denton]

I believe they are designed to be low yield devices capable of penetrating into deeply dug in installations and destroying them.

1 kiloton to 5 kilton. Most likely the "Dial a yield" setup of the B-61.

[Mark17]

It should be nicknamed "The Groundhog."

Yes, except when it goes off, winter ends in a fraction of a second, instead of 6 weeks.

[freebilly]

If it's long enough, they could even name it "The Hedgehog."

Better than the No Dong missile exported by North Korea to Iran....

[Joe Miner]

I hope it was only Dems that voted to defund this program.

Last year, at the insistence of Rep. David L. Hobson (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water, Congress cut all money for the program.

[The Real J Fate]

Lovely.