Posted on 10/25/2011 7:48:27 AM PDT by penelopesire
"The last of the nation's most powerful nuclear bombs a weapon hundreds of times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima is being disassembled nearly half a century after it was put into service at the height of the Cold War. The final components of the B53 bomb will be broken down Tuesday at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, the nation's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. The completion of the dismantling program is a year ahead of schedule, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, and aligns with President Barack Obama's goal of reducing the number of nuclear weapons. Thomas D'Agostino, the nuclear administration's chief, called the bomb's elimination a "significant milestone."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
LOL!! True. The Navy is a better place for ICBMs(SLBMs).
I suppose the space program is a better example.
We have given up 25 megatons and ten megatons for .5 megaton pieces of crap. The Chinese are laughing at US.
I don’t think that’s a true truth except strictly from a pure megatonnage aspect. That’s like saying a 500 hp ported and blueprinted and blown Chevy engine sitting since 1957 in that crate over there will beats this freshly-tuned Porsche roadster.
The engine isn’t even in a thing with four wheels on it, we suspect it’s in fine shape but don’t really know if it will even turn over; it might be seized. We strongly suspect we would we be able to easily and rapidly get any part we’d need to install it into a waiting car frame... but you never know, some weird something might not be readily available. We really don’t even know if the engine hoist we have around the shop can lift that old B-53.
In short, we’ve scrapped an old POS which probably hasn’t been meaningfully tested in 40 years (!) and while we haven’t acquired in recent times anything new, anything in our arsenal is massively more deliverable, and deliverable to a with much more accurate targeting (thus not needed to be that powerful), reliable, and it would not surprise me if the electronic firing circuitry we have currently in use would never work with that old thing.
There might be some “sentimental” value (if you can get sentimental over an H-bomb) but nothing in terms of practical reality has been lost.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.