American atomic weapons. US nuclear forces. The Caribbean crisis began in Turkey

In October 2018, world leaders managed to heat up the international political situation to the limit. First, Donald Trump remembered the US nuclear weapons and said that the country could withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which was signed by Gorbachev and Reagan in 1987. This treaty regulated the elimination of an entire class of weapons intended, including including, for the delivery of nuclear warheads to the territory of the main conditional opponents of that time.

What did Putin say about nuclear war?

And after Trump expressed the opinion that the United States might reconsider its participation in the treaty, Vladimir Putin, without thinking twice, expressed his vision of this issue, which is best quoted:

“The aggressor must know that retaliation is inevitable, that he will be destroyed. And we are a victim of aggression. We, as martyrs, will go to heaven. And they will simply die. Because they won’t even have time to repent.”

These words spread like lightning across the planet, returning the world to the times cold war, when the main superpowers regularly flexed their muscles and threatened to use nuclear weapons. It seemed to many that these times were long behind us, because after the signing of the INF Treaty, Russia and the United States, in fact, lost the opportunity to launch a nuclear strike without the other side suffering from it. To do this, it is necessary that missiles with nuclear charges have a minimum flight time, and this can only be achieved with the help of medium and short-range missiles. Despite the fact that, according to the terms of the treaty, such missiles should have been completely destroyed almost 30 years ago, today not only these two superpowers, but also many others have them. The United States was especially successful in this, where, apparently, they had no intention of curtailing engineering and design work on the production of this type of weapon.

What nuclear weapons does the US have?

The United States, being a pioneer country in terms of creating nuclear weapons, today has the most impressive potential for this deadly type of weapon. But you need to understand that the nuclear bomb itself and the means of its delivery, i.e. rocket is not the same thing. Therefore, even despite a large number of nuclear weapons produced in the United States, the potential for their use remains limited by the delivery vehicles on which they can be placed.

Generally speaking, today the United States has:

Total nuclear charges– 1481 units, including:

– for intercontinental ballistic missiles and aircraft - 481 units;

– for submarines – 920 units.

Total nuclear charge carriers – 741 units, including:

– intercontinental ballistic missiles – 431 units;

– submarines capable of carrying ballistic missiles – 59 units;

– strategic bombers – 80 units.

US nuclear weapons are geographically located throughout the world. A significant part of the US nuclear arsenal is located in Europe and Turkey. Submarines with nuclear missiles ply the Atlantic waters, Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. And, of course, on the North American continent itself there are dozens of places where nuclear weapons are concentrated, some of which do not in appearance resemble military facilities.

As is known, in 1963 and 1966. Treaties were signed that introduced a ban on nuclear testing in the USA, USSR and other countries. The superpowers constantly increased the power of exploding nuclear bombs, and when in 1961 the USSR tested a 50-megaton “Tsar Bombe”, the explosion of which was recorded by sensors all over the planet, many thought that the end of the world was already near. As a result of the signing of the 1966 treaty, countries lost the opportunity to test the types of nuclear weapons they produced, although some states did not join it for a long time. In 2015, when the United States needed to test the latest modification of the newest atomic bomb, the B61, a version of the missile without a warhead was used for this purpose. In addition, all nuclear tests in the United States are simulated on a supercomputer.

Is the US preparing for a nuclear war with Russia?

We have already talked about whether it is possible to use nuclear weapons in the near future when we discussed the prospects for an offensive. Let us repeat that from the point of view of the interests of those in power, such a conflict is unlikely in the coming years, because no one will want to cut the branch on which they “live”, i.e. destroy their own planet, on which people like Trump or Putin feel like masters. Even if we assume that the United States develops an ultra-fast and targeted version of a nuclear attack on Russia, this will inevitably cause a response, similar to the one that Putin spoke about in the words already mentioned above. And if you look at the policies of the Russian president unbiased, you can understand that he is closely and in fact playing on the same side with her.

Therefore, all words about withdrawal from the missile treaty, the use of nuclear weapons or martyrdom are just ostentatious bravado, intended to Once again exacerbate global political confrontation and force people to live in constant fear of the future. We have already mentioned that he is a person put in charge of the United States in order to rock the boat of world politics and economics, and ideally turn everything upside down. And so far he has been successful in this, because if this continues, the world will slide into the abyss of global chaos by the beginning of next year.

Economist, analyst. Studied at a special gymnasium, then at the Donetsk National
University of Economics and Trade with a degree in Finance. Completed master's degree and
graduate school, after which he worked for several years as a research assistant in one of
institutions National Academy Sciences of Ukraine. In parallel with this I received a second
higher education with a degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies. Prepared for
defending a candidate's dissertation in economics. I write scientific and journalistic articles with
2010. I am interested in economics, politics, science, religion and much more.

Since 1945, the United States has produced 66.5 thousand atomic bombs and nuclear warheads. This assessment was made by the director of the nuclear information program at the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Christensen, and his colleague from the Defense Council natural resources Robert Norris, in the pages of the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists in 2009.

In two government laboratories - in Los Alamos and Livermore. Lawrence - a total of about 100 have been created since 1945 various types nuclear charges and their modifications.

Story

The very first atomic bombs, which entered service at the end of the 40s of the last century, weighed about 9 tons and could only be delivered to potential targets by heavy bombers.

By the early 1950s, the United States had developed more compact bombs with less weight and diameter, which made it possible to equip US front-line aircraft with them. Somewhat later they entered service Ground Forces nuclear charges for ballistic missiles, artillery shells and mines. The Air Force received warheads for surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles. A number of warheads have been developed for the Navy and Marine Corps. Navy SEAL sabotage units received light nuclear mines for special missions.

Carriers

The composition of US nuclear weapons delivery vehicles and their jurisdiction have changed since the first atomic bombs appeared in service with the US Army Aviation. IN different time, the Army (medium-range ballistic missiles, nuclear artillery and nuclear infantry ammunition), the Navy (missile-carrying ships and nuclear submarines carrying cruise and ballistic missiles), the Air Force (intercontinental ground-based, silo- and bunker-based, bottom-based ballistic missiles, railway combat missile systems, air-launched cruise missiles, guided and unguided aircraft missiles, strategic bombers and missile-carrying aircraft). As of the beginning of 1983, offensive weapons in nuclear arsenal The United States was presented with 54 Titan-2 ICBMs, 450 Minuteman-2 ICBMs, 550 Minuteman-3 ICBMs, 100 Peacekeeper ICBMs, about 350 Stratofortress strategic bombers and 40 APRCs with various types of SLBMs on board.

The control of land and air delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons is the responsibility of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command. Seaborne delivery vehicles are operated by the Fleet Forces Command (NAS Kings Bay - 16th Submarine Squadron) and the Pacific Fleet (NAS Kitsap - 17th Submarine Squadron). Collectively they report to the Strategic Command.

Megatonnage

Since 1945, the total yield of nuclear warheads has increased many times and reached its peak by 1960 - it amounted to over 20 thousand megatons, which is approximately equivalent to the power of 1.36 million bombs dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945.
The largest number of warheads was in 1967 - about 32 thousand. Subsequently, the Pentagon's arsenal was reduced by almost 30% over the next 20 years.
At the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the United States had 22,217 warheads.

Production

Production of new warheads ceased in 1991, although [ When?] [ ] its resumption is planned. The military continues to modify existing types of charges [ When?] [ ] .

The US Department of Energy is responsible for the entire production cycle - from the development of fissile weapons materials to the development and production of ammunition and their disposal.

Enterprise management is carried out

By 1998, at least $759 million had been paid to the Marshall Islands as compensation for their exposure to US nuclear testing. In February 2006, more than $1.2 billion in compensation was paid to US citizens exposed to nuclear hazards as a result of the US nuclear weapons program.

Russia and the United States have comparable numbers of nuclear warheads; together, these two countries possess more than 90% of the world's nuclear warheads. As of 2019, the United States has an inventory of 6,185 nuclear warheads; of these, 2,385 are retired and awaiting dismantlement and +3,800 are part of the US arsenal. Of the warhead stockpiles, the US declared in the March 2019 START declaration, 1,365 are deployed on 656 ICBMs, SLBMs and strategic bombers.

History of development

Manhattan Project

The United States first began developing nuclear weapons during World War II on orders from President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, motivated by fears that they were engaged in a race with Nazi Germany to develop such weapons. After a slow start under the leadership of British scientists and American administrators, the program was put under the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and in 1942 it was officially transferred under the auspices of the United States Army and became known as the Manhattan Project, in the American, British and Canadian joint venture. Under the leadership of General Leslie Groves, more than thirty different sites were built to research, produce, and test components related to bomb making. These included the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the direction of physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the Hanford Plutonium Plant in Washington, and the Homeland Security Y-12 complex in Tennessee.

By investing heavily in plutonium breeding in early nuclear reactors and in electromagnetic and gas enrichment processes to produce uranium-235, the United States was able to develop three usable weapons by mid-1945. The Trinity test was a plutonium implosion weapon design tested on July 16, 1945, with a 20-kiloton yield.

Faced with a planned invasion of the Japanese islands scheduled to begin on November 1, 1945, and with Japan not giving up, President Harry S. Truman ordered the atomic raids on Japan. On August 6, 1945, the United States detonated a uranium-cannon bomb design, Little Boy, over the Japanese city of Hiroshima with an energy of about 15 kilotons of TNT, killing about 70,000 people, among them 20,000 Japanese fighters and 20,000 Korean slave labor, and destroying about 50 000 buildings (including the 2nd General Army and the Fifth Division headquarters). Three days later, on August 9, the US attacked Nagasaki using a plutonium implosion bomb design, Fat Man, with an explosion equivalent to about 20 kilotons of TNT, destroying 60% of the city and killing about 35,000 people, among them 23,200–28,200 Japanese munitions workers, 2000 Korean hijacked and 150 Japanese combat.

During the Cold War

Between 1945 and 1990, more than 70,000 total warheads were developed, in more than 65 different varieties, ranging in yield from approximately 0.01 kt (such as the man-portable Davy Crockett shell) to the 25 megaton B41 bomb. Between 1940 and 1996, the US spent at least $9.3 trillion today developing nuclear weapons. More than half was spent on creating delivery mechanisms for weapons. $583 billion in terms today was spent on nuclear waste management and environmental remediation.

Throughout the Cold War, the US and USSR were threatened with all-out nuclear attack in the event of war, regardless of whether it was a conventional or nuclear confrontation. US nuclear doctrine called for mutually assured destruction (MAD), which entailed massive nuclear attack against strategic targets and main population centers of the Soviet Union and its allies. The term "mutually assured destruction" was coined in 1962 by American strategist Donald Brennan. MAD was implemented by deploying nuclear weapons simultaneously on three different types of weapons platforms.

After the Cold War

A few notable US nuclear tests include:

• The Trinity test on July 16, 1945, was the world's first nuclear weapons test (yield about 20 thousand).
• The Operation Crossroads series, in July 1946, was the first post-war test series and one of the largest military operations in US history.
• Operation Greenhouse shots of May 1951 included the first enhanced fission weapon test ("Item") and a scientific test that proved feasibility thermonuclear weapons("George").
• The Ivy Mike shot on November 1, 1952 was the first full test of the Teller-Ulam "staged" design hydrogen bomb, with a yield of 10 megatons. It was a non-deployable weapon, however, with its full cryogenic equipment, it weighed about 82 tons.
• Castle Bravo shot on March 1, 1954 was the first test of a deployable (solid fuel) thermonuclear weapon, and was also (incidentally) the largest weapon ever tested by the United States (15 megatons). It was also the largest radiation accident in the United States due to nuclear testing. The unexpected release, and a change in weather, caused radioactive fallout to spread eastward to the inhabited Rongelap and Rongerik atolls, which were soon evacuated. Many of the Marshallese have since suffered from birth defects and have received some compensation from the federal government. Japanese fishing boat fukurit-mara, also came into contact with precipitation, which caused many of the crew to grow ill; one eventually died.
• The Argus I shot from Operation Argus, on August 27, 1958, was the first nuclear weapon detonation in outer space when a 1.7-kiloton warhead was detonated at an altitude of 200 kilometers (120 mi) during a series of high-altitude nuclear explosions.
• The frigate's firing of Operation Dominic I on May 6, 1962, was the only US test of an operational submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a live nuclear warhead (yield 600 kilotons), at Christmas Island. Generally, missile systems were tested without live warheads and the warheads were tested separately for safety reasons. In the early 1960s, however, technical questions were raised about how the systems would perform in combat conditions (when they were "coupled", in military jargon), and this test was intended to allay those concerns. However, the warhead had to be modified somewhat before use, and the missile was an SLBM (not an ICBM), so on its own it did not solve all the problems.
• The Sedan shot from Operation Styrax on July 6, 1962 (yield 104 kilotons), was an attempt to demonstrate the possibility of using nuclear weapons for "civilian" and "peaceful" purposes, as part of Operation Plowshare. In this example, a 1,280 ft (390 m) diameter 320 ft (98 m) deep crater was created at the Nevada Proving Ground.

A summary table of each American operational series can be found in the United States Nuclear Test Series.

delivery systems

On the left are Peacekeeper, Minuteman III and Minuteman I

Original A little boy and Fatman weapons, developed by the United States during the Manhattan Project, were relatively large (Fatman had a diameter of 5 feet (1.5 m)) and heavy (about 5 tons each) and required specially modified bomber aircraft to adapt for their bombing missions against Japan. Each modified bomber could carry only one such weapon and only within a limited range. Since these initial weapons were developed, a significant amount of money and research has been spent towards the goal of standardizing nuclear warheads so that they do not require highly trained specialized experts to assemble them before use, as was the case with wartime special devices and miniaturizations warheads for use in variable delivery systems.

With the help of brains acquired from Operation Paperclip in the tail end of the European theater of World War II, the United States was able to embark on an ambitious program in rocket science. One of the first products of this was the development of missiles capable of holding nuclear warheads. The MGR-1 Honest John was the first such weapon, developed in 1953 as a surface-to-surface missile with a radius of no more than 15 miles (24 km). Due to their limited range, their potential use was greatly limited (they could not, for example, threaten Moscow with an immediate strike).

B-36 Peacekeeper in flight

The development of long-range bombers, such as the B-29 Superfortress during World War II, continued during the Cold War period. In 1946, the Convair B-36 Peacemaker became the first purpose-built nuclear bomber; It served in the US Air Force until 1959. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress was able by the mid-1950s to carry a wide arsenal of nuclear bombs, each with different capabilities and potential use situations. Beginning in 1946, the United States, based on its initial deterrent force at the Strategic Air Command, which, in the late 1950s, maintained a number of nuclear-armed bombers in the skies at all times, was ready to receive orders to attack the USSR when necessary. This system was, however, extremely expensive, both in terms of natural and human resources, and also raised the possibility of an accidental nuclear war.

In the 1950s and 1960s, computerized early warning systems such as Defense Support Programs were developed to detect incoming Soviet attacks and coordinate response strategies. During this same period, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems were developed that could deliver a nuclear warhead over vast distances, allowing the United States to station nuclear forces capable of hitting the Soviet Union in the American Midwest. Shorter ranges of weapons, including small ones tactical weapons, were sent to Europe as well, including nuclear artillery and a portable special nuclear landmine. The development of submarine-launched ballistic missile systems allowed stealth nuclear submarines to covertly launch missiles at long-range targets as well, making it virtually impossible for the Soviet Union to successfully launch a first strike attack against the United States without receiving a lethal response.

Improvements in warhead miniaturization in the 1970s and 1980s allowed for the development of MIRVed missiles that could carry warheads, each of which could be separately targeted. The question is whether these missiles should be based on constantly rotating railway tracks (to avoid being easily targeted against Soviet missiles) or based in heavily fortified bunkers (to possibly withstand Soviet attacks) was a major political controversy in the 1980s (eventually, the bunker deployment method was chosen). The MIRV system allowed the US to render Soviet missile defense systems economically unfeasible, since each offensive missile required three to ten counter defensive missiles.

Additional changes to the weapons supply included missile cruise systems, which allowed the aircraft to fire long-distance, low-flying nuclear warhead missiles towards the target from a relatively comfortable distance.

Existing US delivery systems bring virtually any part of the earth's surface within range of its nuclear arsenal. Although its ground-based missile systems have maximum range 10,000 km (6,200 mi) (less than the entire world), its submarine-based strength expands its reach from coastline 12,000 km (7,500 miles) inland. In addition, in-flight refueling of long-range bombers and the use of aircraft carriers expands the possible range almost infinitely.

Management and control

If the United States is actually under attack by a nuclear-capable enemy, the President could order nuclear strikes only as a member of the two people National Command Authority, the other member of which is the Minister of Defence. Their joint decision shall be conveyed to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who will direct the National Military Command Center to issue Emergency Action messages to those in possession nuclear capabilities strength

The President can order a nuclear launch using his or her nuclear briefcase (nicknamed the nuclear football), or command centers such as the White House Situation Room can be used. The command would be carried out by a nuclear and missile operations officer (a member of the missile combat crew, also called a "missileer") at the missile launch control center. The two-person rule applies to rocket launches, meaning that two employees must turn the keys at the same time (far enough apart that this cannot be done by one person).

In general, these institutions served to coordinate scientific research and create sites. Typically, they ran their sites with the help of contractors, however, both private and public (for example, Union Carbide, a private company, ran Oak Ridge National Laboratory for many decades, and the University of California, a public educational institution, has run at the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore laboratories since their inception, and will also co-manage Los Alamos with private company Bechtel as their next contract). Funding was received both through these agencies directly, but also from additional external agencies such as the Department of Defense. Each branch of the military also maintains its own nuclear-related research facilities (usually related to delivery systems).

production complex Weapons

This table is not exhaustive, as numerous facilities throughout the United States contributed to its nuclear weapons program. It includes the main sites associated with the US weapons program (past and present), their main site functions, and their current status of activity. Not on the list are numerous bases and facilities where nuclear weapons have been deployed. In addition to stationing weapons on its own soil, during the Cold War, the United States also stationed nuclear weapons in 27 foreign countries and territories, including Okinawa (which was under US control until 1971) Japan (during the occupation immediately after World War I II), Greenland, Germany, Taiwan, and French Morocco then independent Morocco.

Name of the site	Location	function	Status
Los Alamos National Laboratory	Los Alamos, New Mexico	Research, Design, Pit Production	active
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	Livermore, California	Research and Development	active
Sandia National Laboratories	Livermore, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico	Research and Development	active
Hanford site	Richland, Washington	Material of manufacture (plutonium)	Not active in rehabilitation
Oak Ridge National Laboratory	Oak Ridge, Tennessee	Material production (uranium-235, fused fuel), research	Active to some extent
Y-12 Homeland Security Complex	Oak Ridge, Tennessee	Component manufacturing, strategic management reserves, uranium storage	active
Nevada Test Site	Near Las Vegas, Nevada	Nuclear testing and nuclear waste disposal	Active; no tests since 1992, currently engaged in waste disposal
Yucca Mountain	Nevada Test Site	Waste disposal (primarily power reactor)	Pending
Waste separation pilot plant	East of Carlsbad, New Mexico	Radioactive waste from nuclear weapons production	active
Pacific polygons	Marshall Islands	Nuclear tests	Inactive, last tested in 1962
Rocky Flats plant	Near Denver, Colorado	Manufacturing components	Not active in rehabilitation
Pantex	Amarillo, Texas	Weapons assembly, disassembly, pit storage	Active, esp. disassembly
Fernald site	Near Cincinnati, Ohio	Material of manufacture (uranium-238)	Not active in rehabilitation
Paducah plant	Paducah, Kentucky	Material production (uranium-235)	Active (commercial use)
Portsmouth plant	Near Portsmouth, Ohio	Material of manufacture (uranium-235)	Active (centrifuge), but not for weapons production
Kansas City plant	Kansas City, Missouri	Production Component	active
Embankment plant	Miamisburg, Ohio	Research, component production, tritium purification	Not active in rehabilitation
Pinellas plant	Largo, Florida	Manufacturing of electrical components	Active, but not for weapons production
Savannah River Site	Aiken Row, South Carolina	Manufacturing material (plutonium, tritium)	Active (limited mode), in rehabilitation

proliferation

Early in the development of its nuclear weapons, the United States relied in part on information sharing with both Britain and Canada, codified in the Quebec Agreement of 1943. The three parties agreed not to exchange nuclear weapons information with other countries without the others' consent, an early attempt at non-proliferation. Following the development of the first nuclear weapon during World War II, however, there was much controversy within political circles and public life United States about whether or not the country should try to maintain a monopoly on nuclear technology, or whether it should pursue an information-sharing program with other countries (especially its former ally and likely competitor, the Soviet Union), or submit control of its weapons to some kind of international organization(eg the UN) who will use them to try to maintain world peace. Although fears of a nuclear arms race had spurred many politicians and scientists to advocate for some degree of international control or sharing of nuclear weapons and information, many politicians and military personnel believed that it was best in the short term to maintain high standards of nuclear secrecy and prevent Soviet bomb as long as possible (and they do not believe that the USSR actually represents international control in good faith).

Since this path was chosen, the United States, in its early days, essentially advocated preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, although primarily for reasons of self-preservation. A few years after the USSR detonated its first weapon in 1949, though, the US, under the leadership of President Dwight Eisenhower, sought to encourage nuclear information exchange programs related to civil nuclear power and nuclear physics in general. The Atoms of Peace program, begun in 1953, was also partly political: the US was better prepared to commit various scarce resources, such as enriched uranium, to these peace efforts and to ask for a similar contribution from the Soviet Union, which had far fewer resources in these areas ; Thus, the program had a strategic rationale, and, as it later turned out, internal memos. This common goal promoting the civilian use of nuclear energy in other countries, as well as preventing the proliferation of weapons, has been called by many critics as controversial and leading to loose standards for a number of decades, allowing a number of other countries, such as China and India, to profit from dual-use technology (purchased from nations other than US).

The Agency's Cooperative Threat Reduction program was created after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to assist former Soviet bloc countries in stockpiling and destroying their nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as the methods for delivering them (silo launchers for ICBMs, long-range bombers, etc.). More than $4.4 billion has been spent on this effort to prevent the deliberate or accidental proliferation of weapons from the former Soviet arsenal.

The development of American nuclear forces is determined by the US military policy, which is based on the concept of “capability of capabilities.” This concept is based on the fact that in the 21st century there will be many different threats and conflicts in relation to the United States, uncertain in time, intensity and direction. Therefore, the United States will concentrate its attention on military field on how it is necessary to fight, and not on who and when the enemy will be. Accordingly, the US military is tasked with having the power to not only counter the wide range of military threats and military capabilities that any potential adversary may possess, but also to ensure victory in any military conflict. Based on this goal, the United States is taking measures to long-term maintain its nuclear forces in combat-ready condition and improve them. USA is the only one nuclear power having nuclear weapons on foreign territory.

Currently, nuclear weapons are available in two branches of the US armed forces - the Air Force and Navy(Navy).

The Air Force is armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) Minuteman-3 with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MRVs), heavy bombers (TB) B-52N and B-2A with long-range air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) and nuclear bombs free fall, as well as tactical aircraft F-15E and F-16C, -D with nuclear bombs.

The Navy is armed with Trident-2 submarines with Trident-2 D5 ballistic missiles (SLBMs) ​​equipped with MIRVs, and long-range sea-launched cruise missiles (SLCMs).

To equip these carriers, the US nuclear arsenal has nuclear munitions (NFM), produced in the 1970-1980s of the last century and updated (updated) during the refurbishment process in the late 1990s - early 2000s:

– four types of multiple warheads: for ICBMs – Mk-12A (with a W78 nuclear charge) and Mk-21 (with a W87 nuclear charge), for SLBMs – Mk-4 (with a W76 nuclear charge) and its upgraded version Mk-4A (with W76-1 nuclear charge) and Mk-5 (with W88 nuclear charge);
- two types of warheads of air-launched strategic cruise missiles - AGM-86B and AGM-129 with a W80-1 nuclear charge and one type of sea-launched Tomahawk non-strategic cruise missiles with a W80-0 nuclear warhead (KR ground-based BGM-109G eliminated by INF Treaty, their YaZ W84 is being mothballed);
- two types of strategic air bombs - B61 (modifications -7, -11) and B83 (modifications -1, -0) and one type of tactical air bombs - B61 (modifications -3, -4, -10).

The Mk-12 warheads with W62 nuclear weapons that were in the active arsenal were completely disposed of in mid-August 2010.

All of these nuclear warheads belong to the first and second generation, with the exception of the B61-11 aerial bomb, which some experts, due to its increased ability to penetrate the ground, consider as a third generation nuclear warhead.

The modern US nuclear arsenal is divided into categories according to the state of readiness for use of its nuclear warheads:

The first category is nuclear warheads installed on operationally deployed carriers (ballistic missiles and bombers or located at weapons storage facilities at air bases where bombers are based). Such nuclear warheads are called “operational deployed”.

The second category is nuclear warheads that are in “operational storage” mode. They are kept ready for installation on carriers and, if necessary, can be installed (returned) to missiles and aircraft. According to American terminology, these nuclear warheads are classified as “operational reserve” and are intended for “operational additional deployment.” Essentially they can be considered as "return potential".

The fourth category is backup nuclear warheads set to " long-term storage" They are stored (mainly in military warehouses) assembled, but do not contain components with limited service life - the tritium containing components and neutron generators have been removed. Therefore, transferring these nuclear warheads into the “active arsenal” is possible, but requires a significant investment of time. They are intended to replace the nuclear warheads of the active arsenal (of similar, similar types) in the event that massive failures (defects) are suddenly discovered in them; this is a kind of “safety reserve”.

The US nuclear arsenal does not include decommissioned but not yet dismantled nuclear warheads (their storage and disposal is carried out at the Pantex plant), as well as components of dismantled nuclear warheads (primary nuclear initiators, elements of the second cascade of thermonuclear charges, etc.).

An analysis of publicly published data on the types of nuclear warheads included in the modern US nuclear arsenal shows that nuclear warheads B61, B83, W80, W87 are classified by US specialists as binary thermonuclear charges (TN), nuclear warhead W76 - as binary charges with gas (thermonuclear ) boost (BF), and W88 as a binary standard thermonuclear charge (TS). In this case, the nuclear weapons of aircraft bombs and cruise missiles belong to charges of variable power (V), and the nuclear weapons of ballistic missile warheads can be classified as a set of similar nuclear weapons having different powers (DV).

American scientific and technical sources provide the following: possible ways power changes:

– dosing of the deuterium-tritium mixture when feeding it into the primary unit;
– change in the release time (in relation to the time process of compression of the fissile material) and the duration of the neutron pulse from external source(neutron generator);
– mechanical blocking of X-ray radiation from the primary node to the secondary node compartment (in fact, exclusion of the secondary node from the process of a nuclear explosion).

The charges of all types of aircraft bombs (B61, B83), cruise missiles (W80, W84) and some warheads (with charges W87, W76-1) use explosives that have low sensitivity and resistance to high temperatures. In other types of nuclear weapons (W76, W78 and W88), for reasons related to the need to ensure low mass and dimensions of their nuclear weapons while maintaining sufficient high power, explosives with a higher detonation speed and explosion energy continue to be used.

Currently, the US nuclear warhead uses a fairly large number of systems, instruments and devices of various types, ensuring their safety and excluding unauthorized use during autonomous operation and as part of a carrier (complex) in the event of various types of problems. emergency situations which can occur with aircraft, submarines, ballistic and cruise missiles, aerial bombs equipped with nuclear warheads, as well as with autonomous nuclear warheads during their storage, maintenance and transportation.

These include mechanical safety and arming devices (MSAD), code locking devices (PAL).

Since the early 1960s, several modifications of the PAL system have been developed and widely used in the United States, having letter designations A, B, C, D, F, which have different functionality and design.

To enter codes into PAL installed inside the nuclear power supply, special electronic remote controls are used. PAL enclosures have increased protection from mechanical influences and are located in the nuclear power supply in such a way as to make them difficult to access.

In some nuclear warheads, for example, with W80 nuclear warheads, in addition to the KBU, a code switching system is installed, which allows arming and (or) switching of nuclear warhead power upon command from the aircraft in flight.

In nuclear aerial bombs Aircraft monitoring and control (AMAC) systems are used, which include equipment installed in the aircraft (with the exception of the B-1 bomber) capable of monitoring and controlling systems and components that ensure the safety, protection and detonation of nuclear warheads. With the help of AMAC systems, the command to activate the control unit (PAL), starting with the PAL B modification, can be given from the aircraft immediately before dropping the bomb.

The US nuclear warheads, which are part of the modern nuclear arsenal, use systems that ensure their incapacitation (SWS) in the event of a threat of capture. The first variants of the SHS were devices that were capable of disabling individual internal components of the nuclear warhead upon command from the outside or as a result of direct actions of persons from the nuclear warhead maintenance personnel who had the appropriate authority and were located near the nuclear warhead at the moment when it became clear that the attackers (terrorists) may gain unauthorized access to it or seize it.

Subsequently, SHS were developed that are automatically triggered when there is an attempt of unauthorized actions with a nuclear warhead, primarily upon penetration into it or penetration into a special “sensitive” container in which a nuclear warhead equipped with an SHS is located.

Specific implementations of SHS are known that make it possible to ensure partial decommissioning of nuclear warheads upon command from the outside, partial decommissioning by means of explosive destruction, and a number of others.

To ensure safety and security from unauthorized actions of the existing US nuclear arsenal, a number of measures are used to ensure detonation safety (Detonator Safing - DS), the use of heat-resistant pit shells (Fire Resistant Pit - FRP), low-sensitive high-energy explosives (Insensitive High Explosive - IHE), providing increased nuclear explosion safety (Enhanced Nuclear Detonator Safety - ENDS), the use of command disable systems (Command Disable System - CDS), devices to protect against unauthorized use (Permissive Action Link - PAL). However, the overall level of safety and security of the nuclear arsenal from such actions, as some American experts believe, does not yet fully correspond to modern technical capabilities; seven of the eight types of nuclear charges in the existing US arsenal are not fully provided with all of the above set of safety measures and protection.

In the absence of nuclear tests, the most important task is to ensure control and develop measures to ensure the reliability and safety of nuclear warheads that have been in operation for a long time, which exceeds the initially determined warranty periods. In the USA, this problem is solved with the help of the nuclear arsenal maintenance program (Stockpile Stewardship Program - SSP), operating since 1994. An integral part of this program is the Life Extension Program (LEP), within the framework of which nuclear components of nuclear warheads requiring replacement are reproduced in such a way as to correspond as closely as possible to the original technical characteristics and specifications, and non-nuclear components are upgraded and replace those nuclear warhead components that have expired their warranty service life.

Nuclear safety equipment is tested for signs of actual or suspected aging by the Enhanced Surveillance Campaign (ESC), which is one of the five Engineering Campaign companies. The company regularly monitors the arsenal's nuclear warheads by carefully inspecting 11 nuclear warheads of each type each year, looking for corrosion and other signs of aging. Of the eleven nuclear warheads of the same type selected from the arsenal to study their aging, one is completely disassembled for destructive testing, and the remaining 10 are subjected to non-destructive testing and returned to the arsenal. Using data obtained from regular monitoring through the SSP program, UD problems are identified and addressed through LEP programs. In this case, the main goal is to “increase the lifespan of nuclear warheads or nuclear warhead components in the arsenal by at least 20 years, with an ultimate goal of 30 years” in addition to the original expected service life. These deadlines are determined based on an analysis of the results of theoretical and experimental research on the reliability of complex technical systems and aging processes of materials and various types of components and devices, as well as a generalization of data obtained during the implementation of the SSP program for the main components of nuclear warheads by determining the so-called failure function, characterizing the entire set of defects that may arise during the operation of a nuclear power supply.

The possible service life of nuclear charges is determined primarily by the service life of plutonium initiators (pits). In the USA, in order to resolve the issue regarding the possible lifespan of previously produced pits that are stored or operated as part of nuclear warheads included in the modern arsenal, a research methodology has been developed and used to assess changes in the properties of Pu-239 over time, characterizing the process of its aging. The methodology is based on a comprehensive analysis of data obtained during full-scale testing and a study of the properties of Pu-239, which is part of the pits tested under the SSP program, as well as data obtained as a result of accelerated aging experiments and computer modeling of processes , occurring during its aging.

Based on the results of the research, models of the plutonium aging process were developed, which allow us to assume that nuclear reactors remain operational for 45-60 years from the date of production of the plutonium used in them.

The work carried out within the framework of the SSP allows the United States to retain in its nuclear arsenal for quite a long time the types of nuclear warheads discussed above, developed more than 20 years ago, most of which have subsequently undergone modernization, and to ensure a sufficiently high level of their reliability and safety without nuclear testing .