West's Submarine Nuclear Warheads Flawed, Say Scientists

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 4-4-2005 | Francis Harris

[SIDENET]

British and American nuclear warheads carried by submarines are so poorly designed that they may fail to detonate if fired, scientists have said.

Well, I say we find out for sure. China...DUCK!

[Servant of the 9]

The W-76 was tested and it worked.
I think that trumps any theoretical failure.

So9

[Shermy]

"The claims have been vigorously denied by US officials, who say that the warhead "looks like a pretty good weapon"."

-"looks like a pretty good weaon"-

Brits think that sounds vigorous? In US official-speak that means "the critics are right".

[jungleboy]

Isn't this stuff classified TOP SECRET?

[Pan_Yan]

I don't care if the darn things are full of radioactive jello ... you don't take your highly classified sour grapes public.

Given Los Alamos' recent history I tend not to believe anything a disgruntled employee from there might say.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Didn't W rescind the test ban treaty awhile back since the other signatory, the Soviet Union, was kaput?

[TheHound]

Damn, we only 8.2 Megatons out of that one. It was supposed to deliver 12. I told them government folks we needed more money.

[SIDENET]

Yeah, that's just a wonderful quote. I wonder where they found the "official" to say it.

[KC_for_Freedom]

If you really know what you are talking about it is.

I think our warheads are in a long term refurbrishment and I would not count on any of them being fired not working.

I also think the people who really know did not release information like this, as you have determined, the actual readiness of any of our weapon systems would be TS.

Now I also know the labs that do the testing, and redesign are always looking for more R & D funding, so this could be a ploy at that.

[acapesket]

Yo! Mama! My thoughts exactly.. how many cretins from Los Alamos are in the Clinton files?
That spot is forever tainted now.
Wen Lee could very well have been "the Source" for this idiocy.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Well, I say we find out for sure. China...DUCK!

Might try Iran and Syria to double check. If they don't work, think how worried China will be since theirs are based on our designs.

[silverleaf]

Well, the bad news is they don't work.

The good news is, Wen Ho Lee pilfered the the design and now China has the same lousy unreliable warheads.

[Doohickey]

Steely-Eyed Killers of the Deep Ping!

Do any of you guys with Hotel pins know if there is a QAST program for Trident? I would assume that there is.

Two editorial comments:

1. Bring back the tactical option, W-88 (TLAM-N)

2. Sounds like the Los Alamos guys are trying to divert attention away from themselves.

[TexasGus]

Similar article in NYT today. Recollect that in the early 80's, the pro-Soviet and naive nuclear freeze nit-wits fought furiously against the MX missile land-based ICBM. Reagan deftly used this as a ploy and deployed the very first counterforce (ie hard-target (silo) accurate) nuclear weapons for the submarine force. Previously sub missiles were only capable of softer targets like cities or bases. The ability and deployment of silo-busting weapons, then mirv'ed on Trident subs was a "HUGE" win. The Union of Concerned Scientists et al. are 20 years later trying to whine us out of this awesome capability. Go pound salt.

[ozaukeemom]

ping

[Doohickey]

Whoops! It would help if I actually threw the ping list in there...

[Rummyfan]

I guess we better test some of them then... there are certainly targets of opportunity.

[mylife]

Dont sugar coat it TX ;)

[boofus]

Actually I read an article in one of the issues of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The hardware used to detonate the nuclear warheads does degrade over time and needs to be maintained.

Something about the Tritium degrading over time, it was mostly over my head but it does make sense and the technical article passed peer review and didn't get 500000 engineers writing in to say it was BS.