B83 nuclear bomb

The B83 nuclear gravity bomb

A B83 casing.

The B83 nuclear weapon is a variable yield gravity bomb developed by the United States in the late 1970s, entering service in 1983. With a maximum yield of 1.2 megatons, it is currently the most powerful atomic weapon in the US arsenal . It was designed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the first underground test detonation took place on 15 December 1984.

History

It was based partly on the earlier B77 program, which was terminated due to cost overruns. The B83 replaced several earlier weapons, including the B28, B43, and to some extent the ultra-high yield B53. It was the first U.S. nuclear weapon designed from the start to avoid accidental detonation, with the use of 'insensitive' explosive in the trigger lens system. Its layout is similar to the smaller B61, with the warhead mounted in the forward part of the weapon to deliberately make the bomb nose-heavy. It was intended for high-speed carriage (up to Mach 2.0) and delivery at either high or low altitude. For the latter role, it is equipped with a parachute retardation system, with a 46 ft (14 m) Kevlar ribbon parachute capable of rapid deceleration. It can be employed in free fall, retarded, contact, or laydown modes, for either air burst or ground burst detonation. Security features include next-generation permissive action link (PAL) locks, and a command disablement system (CDS), rendering the weapon tactically useless without a nuclear yield.

Design

The bomb is 12 feet (3.67 m) long, with a diameter of 18 inches (457 mm); the actual nuclear explosive package, judging from published drawings, occupies some 3 or 4 feet (90 to 120 cm) in the forward part of the bomb case. The bomb weighs approximately 2,400 pounds (1,100 kg); the location of the lifting lugs shows that the greater part of the total mass is contained in the nuclear explosive. It has a variable yield: the destructive power is adjustable from somewhere in the low kiloton range up to a maximum of 1.2 megatons (1.2 million tons of TNT).

The B83 can be deployed by a wide range of U.S. aircraft including:

• B-1B
• B-2A
• B-52H
• F-15E
• F-16A/B/C/D
• F/A-18A/B/C/D/E/F
• F-22A in external configurations^{[citation needed]}

About 650 B83s were built, and the weapon remains in service as part of the United States "Enduring Stockpile."

Novel uses

The B83 is one of the weapons considered for use in the "Nuclear Bunker Buster" project, which for a time was known as the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, or RNEP. While most efforts have focused on the smaller B61-11 nuclear bomb, Los Alamos National Laboratory was also analyzing the use of the B83 in this role.

The warhead contained within the B83 has been considered for use against near earth asteroids. Six such warheads, configured for the maximum 1.2MT yield, would be deployed by maneuvering space vehicles to 'knock' an asteroid off course, should it pose a risk to the earth.

In popular culture

• In the 1996 film Broken Arrow, two B83 bombs are stolen.
• In the strategy game World in Conflict, a B83 is considered the last resort if the US Army failed to retake Seattle from the Soviet Union before the arrival of the PLA naval forces.

See also

• List of nuclear weapons

External links

• B83 Information Site
• B83 page at nuclearweaponarchive.org
• NASA proposal to attack asteroids