W87

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W87
W87 Peacekeeper warheads.png
The Mk21 Re-entry Vehicles shown here for the LGM-118A Peacekeeper contain W87
warheads.
Type Nuclear bomb
Service history
In service 1986�present
Used by United States
Production history
Designer Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Designed Mod 0: February 1982
Mod 1: November 1987 to July 1988, March 2019 to 2030
Produced Mod 0: July 1986 to December 1988
Mod 1: 2030 onwards
No. built 525
Variants 2
Specifications
Mass 400 to 600 pounds (180 to 270 kg)
Detonation
mechanism
Contact, airburst
Blast yield 300 kt (W87-0)
475 kt (W87-1)
The W87 is an American thermonuclear missile warhead formerly deployed on the LGM-
118A Peacekeeper ("MX") ICBM. 50 MX missiles were built, each carrying up to 10 W87
warheads in multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, and were deployed
from 1986 to 2005. Starting in 2007, 250 of the W87 warheads from retired
Peacekeeper missiles were retrofitted onto much older Minuteman III missiles, with
one warhead per missile.[1]

Contents
1 Description
2 Variants
3 See also
4 References
4.1 Bibliography
5 External links
Description

The W87 warhead. The secondary (top) is forward of the larger primary (bottom).
Design of the W87 started in February 1982 at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory and production of the warhead began in July 1986 and ended in December
1988.[2] Its design is reportedly somewhat similar to the W88, though that warhead
was designed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The weapons are part of a National
Nuclear Security Administration nuclear weapons lifecycle program.[3]

The W87 design includes all modern safety features, including the insensitive high
explosives LX-17 and PBX-9502 (primary component TATB), a fire-resistant pit, and
advanced arming and fuzing safety features.

The original yield of the W87 was 300 kilotons, but has the announced ability to be
upgraded to a yield of 475 kilotons, presumably by using more highly enriched
uranium (HEU) in the fusion secondary stage tamper. It is not known if that upgrade
was completely tested and ready to implement, or merely designed.
The exact dimensions of the W87 are classified, but it fits inside the Mk. 21
reentry vehicle, which is a cone with base diameter of 22 inches (56 cm) and a
length of 69 inches (180 cm). The weight is believed to be between 440 and 600
pounds (200 and 270 kg).

Variants
In addition to the higher yield upgrade option described above, a specific variant
W87 mod 1 (W87-1) entered Phase 3 development engineering and was assigned its type
designation in November 1988.[2] This variant was intended for the MGM-134
Midgetman small ICBM missile and was intended to have the full 475 kiloton yield.
The Midgetman and W87-1 were canceled in January 1992.

In 2019, the W87 mod 1 was selected to replace the W78 warhead deployed on all
Minuteman III missiles not currently carrying the W87 mod 0. The new warhead will
not be deployed onto Minuteman III, but instead be deployed on Minuteman III's
replacement ICBM system Ground Based Strategic Deterrent. It is not clear if the
new W87 mod 1 program is a continuation of the previous W87 mod 1 program, or if it
uses any of the physics package developed in the previous W87 mod 1 program.[4]

Information released by the Department of Energy on the program states that it "has
a similar primary design to the W87-0", which could be evidence that it is like the
previous W87 mod 1 program in that it has a different or modified secondary to
produce a higher yield. The DoE notes that the weapon is based on previously tested
nuclear components.[4]

The first production warhead should be fielded by 2030.[4]

See also
List of nuclear weapons
References
Kristensen, Hans M.; Norris, Robert S. (January 18, 2015). "US nuclear forces,
2015". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 71 (2): 107�119.
Bibcode:2015BuAtS..71b.107K. doi:10.1177/0096340215571913. S2CID 145260117.
Nuclear weapons labs (status report), University of California, 1989, archived
from the original on 2006-05-18, retrieved 2006-04-15.
"Fact Sheet: W87-1 Modification Program" (PDF). National Nuclear Security
Administration. March 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-31.
Retrieved 2020-03-07.
"W87-1 Modification Program" (PDF). March 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original
on 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
Bibliography
Cox Committee Report (the Report of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security
and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China) (1999)
External links
"W87", USA, Nuclear weapons archive.
"W87", WMD, Global security.
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