Mk.17 - the first thermonuclear bomb on lithium deuteride in the US arsenal; The first mass-produced American thermonuclear bomb. The largest and most massive thermonuclear weapon in the American arsenal. It was developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory [1] .
Content
History
The successful Ivy Mike test in 1952 demonstrated the fundamental possibility of creating a megaton equivalent thermonuclear weapon. However, the scheme used in it on cryogenic thermonuclear fuel (liquefied deuterium ) was imperfect and unsuitable for practical use. Maintaining deuterium in a liquid state required powerful cryogenic plants; as a result, the experimental charge had monstrous dimensions and a weight of more than 80 tons, which made it completely non-transportable.
American engineers managed to develop a more compact version of this charge , in which the massive cooling system was replaced by Dewar vessels, from which the supply of liquid deuterium was continuously replenished. The resulting bomb was suitable for transportation by heavy bombers, but complex, unreliable and inconvenient to operate.
From a technical point of view, thermonuclear weapons using liquid deuterium were a dead end. Physicists considered it possible to create a thermonuclear weapon on solid thermonuclear fuel - lithium-6 deuteride . The first solid-fuel fusion project, designated TX-17, was completed in 1953; the question arose whether it would be more efficient to use ordinary or enriched lithium deuteride. In the end, work on the TX-17 project continued in the direction of using conventional lithium deuteride, and a similarly charged charge on enriched up to 40% lithium deuteride was designated TX-24.
Design
The Mk.17 bomb had a cylindrical shape with a rounded nose and a slight narrowing on the tail. In the nose of the bomb was a plutonium primer Mk.5 with a capacity of about 100 kilotons of TNT equivalent, which played the role of a reaction initiator. Most of the volume of the bomb was a massive cylindrical container with lithium deuteride, surrounded by a uranium reflector and plastic filler around.
The power of the bomb was about 10-15 megatons of TNT equivalent.
The main method of using the bomb was a parachute drop followed by detonation by a barometric sensor at a given height. Later versions also had a contact detonator, allowing the use of a bomb to destroy fortified buried or underground structures.
Features
- length - 7536 mm
- diameter - 1560 mm
- weight - 21 tons
- explosion energy - 10-15 megatons
Modifications
- EC-17 is a prototype device developed in 1954. Adopted as a temporary measure until the advent of more advanced thermonuclear weapons. It was a free-falling bomb of an air blast; due to the lack of a decelerating parachute, the parachute was dangerous for the carrier aircraft. A total of 5 units were manufactured, withdrawn from service in October 1954.
- Mk.17 Mod 1 - the serial version of the bomb, equipped with a 30-meter parachute to slow down the descent. It could be safely used with existing bombers.
- Mk. 17 Mod 2 - differed from the previous version by the presence of a contact fuse, for detonation at the moment of contact with the surface. It was created to destroy particularly strong underground structures.
A total of 200 Mk.17 Mod 1 and Mod 2 bombs were made in 1954-1955
Armed
Mk.17 bombs were adopted in 1954. At that time, it was the strongest thermonuclear weapon in the world, and the only one (together with the Mk.24 close in design), which was produced in large quantities. Two hundred thermonuclear bombs of this type, which arrived in the arsenals of the US Air Force in 1954-1955, possessed a total megaton of about 2000-3000 megatons - almost twenty times more than the total arsenal of conventional nuclear bombs available at that time.
In May 1957, one Mk.17 bomb was unintentionally dropped from a B-36 bomber landing at Kirtland Air Base. Separating from the mounts, the bomb broke through the doors of the bomb bay and fell from a height of 520 meters. Although the bomb was not cocked, the primer’s explosive partially detonated from the impact, destroying the bomb and scattering radioactive material. The measures taken to clean up the area were successful, but, nevertheless, individual radioactive fragments of the bomb are still found.
The main disadvantage of this weapon was its monstrous dimensions and weight. Bombs of this type could be effectively delivered to the target only by heavy B-36 bombers - but these aircraft were already outdated and should have been decommissioned soon. Planned to replace the B-36 jet bomber YB-60 lost the competition possessing the best flight characteristics of the B-52; but the B-52 was not able to carry superheavy fusion charges due to the limited size of its bomb compartments. In 1957, with the advent of new, more advanced thermonuclear charges, Mk.17 bombs were withdrawn from service.
Mk.24
See Mk.24
In parallel with the Mk.17 bomb, an almost identical Mk.24 bomb was developed, characterized by the use of the enriched lithium-6 isotope. Both bombs had the same hulls, but the Mk.24 was slightly lighter.
See also
- Nuclear weapon
- US Nuclear Arsenal
- U.S. Nuclear Weapons List
Notes
- ↑ Cochran, Thomas B .; Arkin, William M .; Hoenig, Milton M. Nuclear Weapons Databook, Vol. II: US Nuclear Warhead Production. (English) - Cambridge, Mass .: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1987. - P.10 - 240 p. - ISBN 0-88730-125-8 .
Literature
- Kuznetsov, Konstantin , Grigory Dyakonov , B-36 - America's last argument? // Aviation And Time. - 2006. - No. 3. - P.12.