W76
Encyclopedia
The W-76 is carried inside a Mk-4 re-entry vehicle. U.S. Trident I and Trident II Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles may carry W76 warheads as one warhead option, along with W88
W88
The W88 is a United States thermonuclear warhead, with an estimated yield of 475 kiloton , and is small enough to fit on MIRVed missiles. The W88 was designed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1970s. In 1999 the director of Los Alamos who had presided over its design described it as...
warheads in the Trident II.
The dimensions of the W76 and Mk-4 reentry vehicle which carries it are not known; only the warhead's weight of 362 pounds (164 kg) has been disclosed.
The W76 has a yield
Nuclear weapon yield
The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy discharged when a nuclear weapon is detonated, expressed usually in the equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene , either in kilotons or megatons , but sometimes also in terajoules...
of 100 kilotons
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
.
The upgraded W76-1/Mk4A will be used in both American and British submarines.
Extensions to the service lives for 800 of the warheads was approved by the US government in 2000, then later increased to 2,000. The project is scheduled for completion in 2018.