defending

The shadow of a nuclear war once again darkens the future of the planet. Vladimir Putin has threatened on several occasions to launch the most powerful missiles in his arsenal against NATO, while China and the US continue their advances in the matter more discreetly. Despite signing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, some countries have not yet ratified their participation and their own Russia does not rule out the possibility of new tests with ‘live’ nuclear warheadseither on the surface or in underground facilities.

Other countries with nuclear capacity, not including Spain, seem to be betting on an alternative route to carry out the necessary tests to complete the development of new weapons. This is the case of the United Kingdom and its future A21 Astraea warhead. As confirmed last week by the British Ministry of Defense, the strategy involves put it to the test without detonating it, to be able to integrate it as soon as possible into the Trident II ballistic missiles launched from Vanguard submarines.

“The United Kingdom committed to replacing our sovereign warhead in Parliament in February 2021,” he says. the new white paper of the British Ministry of Defense. “Using modern and innovative developments in science, engineering, manufacturing and production and AWE [siglas en inglés de Establecimiento de Armas Atómicas]we will ensure that the UK maintains effective deterrence for as long as necessary.”

Astraea

The United Kingdom’s history with nuclear weapons dates back to the early 1940s, when it had a first program in force to study the application of this type of bombs on the battlefield. The first tests did not take long and in the 50s they already carried out the first tests, common at that time. So it became the third country in the world to carry out one of these tests after the United States and the Soviet Union.

Of the 560 nuclear warheads that it had in the 1970s, it now has less than half, 260, after the first expansion since the Cold War decreed by Boris Johnson’s government in 2021. And for the Ministry of Defense British it is essential to continue expanding the deterrent capacity of these nuclear weapons “by developing a UK sovereign replacement warheadwhile maintaining our current arsenal.

Trident II Launch Lockheed Martin Omicrono

It refers to A21, a weapon formerly known as the Nuclear Warhead Replacement Program, and also called Astraea, after the Greek goddess of purity and justice. At the moment, hardly any specific specifications or data are known about this new nuclear warhead, beyond the fact that will be loaded on Mk 7 re-entry vehicles. These are currently under development along with the W93 warhead by the US, although they are based on previous designs and will add to the long tradition of military collaboration between both administrations.

The US’s current nuclear warheads, both types of W76 and W88, have not been replenished since the Cold War and are a crucial component of its deterrence strategy subject to wear and tear over time. Hence the W93 Modernization Program, approved by the Obama government, which seeks a lower warhead weight, longer attack range with Trident II missiles and a wider target footprint.

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“Anchored on previously tested nuclear components, The W93 will incorporate modern technologies to improve safety and flexibility to address future threats,” the US National Nuclear Security Administration said in its latest annual report on the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan. “The W93 will not require additional testing of nuclear explosives to be certified.”

The Orion laser

In the case of A21, tests are necessary, but they will be carried out without detonation, combining various technologies that will allow us to verify all its capabilities. It is a concept that has already been used by other countries but, according to the British Ministry of Defence, has never been carried out in such a comprehensive manner thanks to various state-of-the-art facilities.

An operator at the Orion British Crown Omicrono facilities

The most important is the Orion laser, “a unique and world-leading technology to validate the UK’s nuclear warhead arsenal”, the white paper explains. It is a tool used by scientists to “investigate the physics of those extreme temperatures and pressures that occur in a nuclear explosion to better understand the safety, reliability and performance of nuclear warheads.”

Built in 2006 in Aldemaston, just outside London, this facility began operating in 2010. According to its websiteis the size of a football stadium and contains a large neodymium glass laser system that “provides some of the most powerful laser beams ever created.”

Lasers ready for firing British Crown Omicrono

To achieve its goal, it combines 10 “long pulse” laser beams, one billionth of a second long, with two “short pulse” beams of 2 petawatts, concentrated in an area of ​​just 2 mm. “We directed them to a target room, where we performed experiments in a four-meter-diameter chamber that operates at high vacuum.” Your mission is offer a complete suite of optical, particle and x-ray plasma diagnosticswhich allow us to understand the plasma conditions created by the laser interaction.

It is a way to recreate the conditions and effect of a nuclear explosion, since it can reproduce the extreme temperatures, pressures and densities that occur after the detonation of a warhead. It allows the study and understanding of the physical phenomena that occur in this environment, not only for military purposes, but also for scientific purposes.

Computer simulations

Another of the fundamental elements for the development of Astraea is EPURE, a joint installation with France located in Valduc, near Dijon. There, hydrodynamic tests will be carried out that use X-rays to measure the behavior of materials at extreme temperatures and pressures.

“Although the United Kingdom and France will maintain their operational independence, the facility will be managed jointly, and both countries will carry out sophisticated experiments that will allow them Model the performance and safety of nuclear weapons without testing nuclear explosives“adds the document recently shared by the British Ministry of Defense.

EPURE CEA/DAM Omicrono facilities

Finally, the white paper also mentions supercomputing, “a crucial capability, as it allows simulations to be carried out that allow us to develop a safe and guaranteed warhead without detonation.” It will contribute directly to this the Valiant supercomputer, one of the most powerful in the United Kingdomwhich will be used to “validate the design, performance and reliability of our nuclear warhead.”

In total, the British government’s economic effort to renew and modernize its nuclear arsenal, including new Dreadnought class submarines planned for the mid-2030s, is estimated at more than 3.5 billion euros.

2024-04-03 01:10:57
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