An Overview of Current and Planned U.S. Nuclear Weapons

   The NonProliferation Treaty, signed in 1970 by the five nuclear weapons powers (the U.S., USSR, U.K., France and China) mandated those countries to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament...." In exchange, the nations without nuclear weapons pledged to never acquire them. This has been the fundamental bargain that has been the core of the global nonproliferation regime for the last 30 years. With respect to the U.S., our own Constitution enshrines all treaties made as "the supreme Law of the Land."

    With this new millennium, there are still more nuclear weapons today (and on high alert) than when the NPT was first signed. Moreover, through DOE's so-called Stockpile Stewardship Program, the U.S. is seeking to preserve nuclear weapons literally "forever." Funding continues to grow - - in the last two years, under the newly created National Nuclear Security Administration, the budget for nuclear weapons programs has increased $300 million to $4.7 billion. As an added point, the U.S. has repeatedly refused to pledge to a "no first use" policy. In short, the U.S. has demonstrated no substantial sign that it will ever honor the NPT's mandate to disarm, and it is improbable that others will ever do so while the U.S. does not play a leading role. Because the fundamental bargain embodied in the NPT has never been honored, the continuing proliferation of nuclear weapons is still being broadly encouraged.

    The Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the bi-agency Nuclear Weapons Council intend to preserve an "enduring" nuclear weapons stockpile indefinitely. For each of the following existing weapons systems, extensively planned Stockpile Life Extension Programs are being implemented:

•   B61 - - A Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)-designed bomb for the Air Force with "dial-a-yield", three between 100 and 500 kilotons (kt.) and a special low 10 kt. yield. Accordingly, it can be used both as a tactical (battlefield) and a strategic weapon. There are many versions and modifications of the B-61, the latest being the recently developed earth-penetrator B61-11. Current versions were introduced to the stockpile in 1979; approximately 1500 are still in deployment;
•    W62 - - A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-designed warhead for the Air Force's Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The W62 entered the stockpile in 1970; 600 are still in deployment. Two or three W62's can be carried on each Minuteman III missile. Explosive yield is believed to be 170 kt. The W-62 is planned on being gradually replaced by the W-78;
•    W76 - - A LANL-designed warhead for the Navy's Trident 1 missile. Each Trident submarine can carry 24 missiles with eight warheads each. Yield of the W-76 is believed to be around 100 kt. First deployed in 1979; 3,000 still deployed. The W-76 may be eventually replaced by the W-88;
•    W78 - - A LANL-designed warhead for the Air Force's Minuteman III ICBM, with 2 - 3 warheads on each missile. First deployed in 1979; 900 still in deployment. Yield believed to be around 335 kt;
•    W80 - - A LANL-designed warhead for sea-launched cruise missiles (from ships and subs) for the Navy. Also adapted to air-launched cruise missiles for the Air Force's B-2 and B-52 bombers. First deployed in 1984; 1,120 still in deployment. Yield is believed to be around 150 kt;
•   B83 - - A LLNL-designed Air Force strategic bomb for low-level supersonic flights against "hardened" targets (concrete missile silos and command and control centers). First deployed in 1983; up to 950 may still be in deployment. Yield is believed to be between 1 - 2 megatons - - a huge weapon!;
•    W87 - - A LLNL-designed warhead for the Air Force's "Peacekeeper" ICBM, which can carry up to 12 warheads each. First deployed in 1986; 500 still in deployment. Yield is 300 kt.; can be increased up to 475 kt. with additional enriched uranium; and the
•    W88 - - A LANL-designed warhead for the Navy's Trident II missile. Yield is 475 kt. Each Trident sub can carry up to 24 Trident II missiles with up to 8 independently targeted W88's each. First deployed in 1990; 384 still in deployment. The W88 is considered to be the U.S.'s most advanced nuclear weapon; its plutonium pit is the first scheduled for resumed stockpile pit production.

    As part of its Stockpile Life Extension Programs, DOE is introducing modifications to weapons that arguably constitute new weapons because they intrinsically possess new and improved military characteristics. The recent adaptation of the B-61 into an earth penetrator is a prime example. Ironies abound here, in that the stated purpose of DOE's Stockpile Stewardship Program is to preserve and maintain the safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of full-scale testing. Yet perhaps the surest way of introducing uncertainties into the stockpile is to make modifications to already extensively tested weapons, as the Stockpile Stewardship Program explicitly plans on doing. In addition, the U.S. Senate has so far rejected ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which would have banned all full-scale nuclear weapons tests. The 1994 Department of Defense Weapons Posture Review directed that a core mission of the Stockpile Stewardship Program is to preserve nuclear weapons design and production capabilities, one mission that the program appears successful in doing.

    Perhaps even more sobering, there are growing indications that DOE and the weapons labs are working on completely new designs. These are likely to involve low-yield weapons ("mini-nukes" in the 5 kiloton or below range), which are inherently more dangerous because they are more likely to be used. There is now proposed Senate legislation that will require DOE to undertake mini-nuke research and development, a direction that has been legislatively barred since 1994. LANL Associate Director for Nuclear Weapons Steve Younger has argued that "reliance on high-yield strategic weapons could lead to 'self-deterrence.'" He has posed as a possibility the design and deployment of "a new set of nuclear weapons that do not require nuclear testing to be certified. Such weapons might be, but do not need be, based on simple gun-assembled uranium designs [like the Hiroshima bomb] that do not require a plutonium infrastructure......." Sandia National Laboratories Director Paul Robinson has publicly stated that the U.S. will someday need a mini-nuke.

    In March 2000, Sandia Labs flight tested a new warhead design meant to possibly replace existing submarine-launched warheads. Despite public pronouncements that this was just a "concept", the DOE Congressional Budget Request demonstrates that full-scale engineering development for the "refurbishment" of the W-76 is being initiated. [The FY 2000 LANL Institutional Plan mentions "replacement warhead design for the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Warhead Protection Program" as well. In addition, LANL describes the stockpile as "evolving", in contrast to simply "enduring."] Full-scale engineering development is also planned for the refurbishing the W-80. Finally, Sandia has recently stated that enhancements to nonnuclear components for the W87 have refurbished it for another 20 years of service.

    Notes: A weapon's yield is its predicted destructive force. A kiloton is equivalent to the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT; a megaton is one million tons (for reference's sake, the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kt.). Some of the multiple warheads on the land-based ICBM's are already being reduced to single warheads under START II (which has yet to go fully into effect). Sea-launched cruise missiles have been withdrawn from active deployment. The Nuclear Posture Review eliminated the nuclear mission for naval surface ships, but an option to rearm attack submarines in the future was retained. While all warheads are either LANL or LLNL designed, Sandia National Laboratories is responsible for the "weaponization" (i.e., the non-nuclear components and delivery systems) of all nuclear weapons designs.
    Sources: The Secret History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons, Chuck Hansen, 1988; "U.S. Nuclear Forces", Natural Resources Defense Council, May 2000; the DOE FY 2000 Stockpile Stewardship Plan (aka "The Green Book"); the FY 2000 LANL Institutional Plan; "Sandia Tests New Warhead", John Fleck, The Albuquerque Journal, July 29, 2000; "Lab Chief Warns of Weapons Gap", John Lumpkin, The Albuquerque Journal, March 29, 2000; and "DOE to aid in studying low-yield nuclear weapons", The Washington Post, June 12, 2000.