W84

The W84 is an American thermonuclear warhead

History
The weapon was designed by Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory beginning in September 1978 for
the Ground Launched Cruise Missile program.
Production engineering began in December 1980 and
first production began in June 1983 with full-scale
production starting in September 1983.[1] Though the W84 warhead, serial number 001.
exact number is disputed, either 350 or 530 warheads
Type Nuclear weapon
were produced.[1][2]
Place of origin United States
The warhead suffered post-deployment design issues Production history
after the weapon produced an unexpectedly low yield Designer Lawrence Livermore
in a simulated ageing test. This issue was corrected National Laboratory
without redesign of the nuclear explosive sub-assembly.
Designed September 1978 to June
One test of the weapon was 2 August 1984 shot
1983
Fusileer Correo at a depth of 1,099 feet (335 m),
producing a yield of less than 20 kilotonnes of TNT Produced June 1983
(84 TJ).[1] No. built Disputed; 350 or 530
warheads
With the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Specifications
Forces Treaty in 1987, the GLCMs that carried the
W84 were destroyed and the warheads put into the Mass 388 lb (176 kg)
inactive reserve stockpile. These warheads have been Length 34 inches (86 cm)
used to study the effects of long-term ageing on TATB Diameter 13 in (33 cm)
and polymer-bonded explosives.[2]
Blast yield 0.2 to 150 kilotonnes of TNT
The W84 was briefly considered alongside the B61
(0.84 to 627.60 TJ)
Mod 12 for the Long-Ranged Stand Off Missile
(LRSO) program, but a new modification of the W80,
the W80 Mod 4 was chosen instead as neither system met the dimension and weight requirements for the
program.[3]

Design
The W84 is a derivative of the B61 nuclear bomb design and is a close relative of the W80 warhead used
on the AGM-86 ALCM, AGM-129 ACM, and BGM-109 Tomahawk SLCM cruise missiles. It is a two-
stage radiation implosion warhead with a variable yield ranging from 0.2 kiloton up to 150 kilotons. The
W84 was designed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory while the B61 nuclear bomb the design is
thought to be based on originated at Los Alamos National Laboratory.[1]

The warhead is 13 inches (33 cm) in diameter and 34 inches (86 cm) long which is slightly wider and
longer than the W80 warhead used on other cruise missiles from this era. It weighs 388 pounds (176 kg),
almost 100 pounds (45 kg) pounds heavier than the W80.[4] The warhead contains TATB-based LX-17
polymer bonded explosive in its primary stage, which is an insensitive high-explosive (IHE) designed to
reduce the chance of detonation in an accident.[1][2] Other explosive present in the warhead include ultra-
fine powdered TATB (UF-TATB) and LX-16,[2] a PETN-based conventional polymer-bonded high
explosive.[5]

The W84 has all eight of the modern types of nuclear weapon safety features identified as desirable in
nuclear weapon safety studies. It is the only US nuclear warhead which has all eight features. These
include: insensitive high-explosives, a fire resistant pit, Enhanced Nuclear Detonation Safety (ENDS/EEI)
with detonator stronglinks, Command Disable, and the most advanced Cat G Permissive Action Link
(PAL).[6][7]

A 2001 declassified report states that the W84 does not use a Canned Subassembly (CSA) and that the
weapon's secondary is not sealed.[8]

Gallery

W84 warhead (left) on A LLNL drawing of the The GLCM missile Storage container and
display at the Nuclear W84 showing the W84 PAL coder-decoder for
Weapons Instructional location (LLNL the W84 warhead.
Museum drawing)

See also
B61 Family
List of nuclear weapons

References
1. Sublette, Carey (1 September 2001). "The W-84 Warhead" (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/
Usa/Weapons/W84.html). Nuclear Weapon Archive. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
2. "W84" (https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/w84.htm). Global Security. 24 July 2011.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210924142931/https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/
systems/w84.htm) from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
 3. Action Needed to Address the W80-4 Warhead Program's Schedule Constraints (https://ww
w.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-409.pdf) (PDF) (Report). United States Government Accountability
Office. July 2020. p. 31. GAO-20-409. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2021071713250
5/https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-409.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 17 July 2021.
Retrieved 6 November 2021.
4. Sublette, Carey (12 June 2020). "Complete List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons" (http://nuclear
weaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/Allbombs.html). Nuclear Weapon Archive. Retrieved
10 September 2021.
5. Foltz, M F; Reyes, P; Foster, P A (24 August 1999). CRT compatibility evaluation of LX-16
and Halthane 73-18 (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc619569/) (Report).
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202109100
23912/https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc619569/) from the original on 10
September 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
6. "Scrapping the Safe Nuke?" (http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2010/10/w84.php). FAS Strategic
Security Blog. 6 October 2010. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20101009204111/htt
p://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2010/10/w84.php) from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved
13 October 2010.
7. Sandia Weapon Review: Nuclear Weapon Characteristics Handbook (https://documents.the
blackvault.com/documents/nnsa/NuclearWeaponsCharacteristicHandbook.pdf) (PDF)
(Report). Sandia National Labs. September 1990. p. 78. SAND90-1238. Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20220112004633/https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/nnsa/N
uclearWeaponsCharacteristicHandbook.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 12 January 2022.
Retrieved 28 October 2023.
8. Robert B Bonner; Stephan E Lott; Howard H Woo (January 2001). Secondary Lifetime
Assessment Study (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_B_Bonner_et_al._-_200
1_-_Secondary_Lifetime_Assessment_Study.pdf) (PDF) (Report). Sandia National Labs.
p. 10. SAND2001-0063. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20211106081237/https://com
mons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_B_Bonner_et_al._-_2001_-_Secondary_Lifetime_Ass
essment_Study.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 6 November 2021. "The terms "Canned Sub-
Assembly" (CSA) and "secondary" are not synonymous. All CSAs contain secondaries, but
not all secondaries are CSAs since some secondaries are not sealed in a "can" (e.g., W84)."

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=W84&oldid=1188881585"