The Reliable Replacement Warhead Program: Background and Current Developments

Abstract

Most current U.S. nuclear warheads were built in the 1970s and l980s and are being retained longer than was planned. Yet they deteriorate and must be maintained. To correct problems, a Life Extension Program (LEP), part of a larger Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP), replaces components. Modifying some components would require a nuclear test, but the United States has observed a test moratorium so LEP rebuilds these components as closely as possible to original specifications. With this approach, the Secretaries of Defense and Energy have certified stockpile safety and reliability for the past 11 years without nuclear testing. In the FY2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress provided $9 million to initiate the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program. The program trades key Cold War features such as high yield and low weight to gain features more valuable now, such as lower cost, greater ease of manufacture, and a further increase in use control. It plans to make these improvements by designing replacement warheads that would not add military capability. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which operates the U.S. nuclear weapons program, views RRW as part of a comprehensive plan that would also modernize the nuclear weapons complex (the Complex), avoid nuclear testing, and reduce non-deployed weapons. The Nuclear Weapons Council, a joint NNSA-Department of Defense organization that coordinates nuclear weapons mailers, conducted a competition for an RRW design, with the winning design selected in March 2007. The FY2006 RRW appropriation was $24.8 million; the FY2007 operating plan contains $35.8 million; and the FY2008 request is $88.8 million for NNSA and $30.0 million for the Navy. The House Armed Services Committee mark would reduce the $88.8 million by $20 million and the $30.0 million by $25.0 million.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 11, 2007
Accession Number
ADA468004

Entities

People

  • Jonathan E. Medalia

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arms Control
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Environment
  • Explosives
  • Insensitive Explosives
  • Law
  • Material Degradation Processes
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Processing
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Nuclear Warheads
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Physics

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