The United States announced that it has finished the actual deployment of low-power tactical nuclear weapons. Low-power tactical nuclear weapons are considered the most suitable weapon for destroying North Korea’s underground facilities.
Tennessee, a nuclear-propelled strategic submarine of the US Navy. In December of last year, it was first equipped with a low-power tactical nuclear W76-2 and went on a patrol mission. [사진 미 해군]
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The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which manages nuclear weapons in the United States, submitted to Congress on the 28th (local time). Annual reportIn the statement, “In fiscal year 2020, we completed the assembly of the W76-2 and delivered all of it to the Navy.” The fiscal year 2020 runs from October 1st last year to September 30th.
W76-2 was modified to reduce the explosive power (90㏏) of W76, the nuclear warhead for SLBM of the US Navy, to the level of 5㏏ (1㏏ is the explosive power of TNT 1000t). The power of the atomic bomb dropped by the United States on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan was about 15㏏. The W76-2 is weaker than the maximum explosive power (170㏏) of the B61 (0.3~170㏏), a tactical nuclear bomb used by the US Air Force in fighters and bombers.
![The logo of the W76-2 program, a low-power tactical hack. It can be attached to the warhead of the Trident, a submarine launch missile (SLBM). [NNSA]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202012/30/d3c368ae-c5f0-4f56-b9cd-3f93d46f6c48.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
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The logo of the W76-2 program, a low-power tactical hack. It can be attached to the warhead of the Trident, a submarine launch missile (SLBM). [NNSA]
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This is why the US Navy is actually called a tactical nucleus even if the warhead is mounted on a strategic submarine. It can also be used to attack nuclear and missile-related facilities built underground by North Korea and Iran.
However, the report did not disclose the W76-2 production. NNSA announced in February 2019 that it had produced its first W76-2. In December of last year, the US Navy’s Ohio-class nuclear-propelled strategic submarine, Tennessee (SSBN 734), set out on a patrol mission with a W76-2 nuclear warhead installed.
W76-2 is the work of US President Donald Trump. In the February 2018 Nuclear Posture Review Report (NPR), the US Department of Defense predicted the development of a low-power nuclear warhead such as the W76-2, saying, “To prevent misunderstanding that the US has weakened its ability to deter local nuclear weapons, and thus can abuse it. However, President-elect Joe Biden rated the W76-2 as a “bad idea” because he “wanted to use it frequently”.
The next Biden administration is urging to take a thorough look at the Trump administration’s nuclear weapons modernization program. It was difficult to cover the expected cost of up to $1 trillion (about 1,000 trillion won). However, the W76-2 has already been deployed. It’s another big nail for President Trump.
Reporter Lee Cheol-jae [email protected]
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