On September 1, the U.S. military released the video of the B-52H "Stratofortress" strategic bomber of the Second Bomber Wing mounted AGM-86B air-launched nuclear cruise missile. You can see the W80 mounted on the head of the AGM-86B. A picture of a nuclear cruise missile warhead (equivalent of 0.5 to 150,000 tons of TNT). Outsiders speculate that the US military's move may be to send some kind of signal to China and Russia in order to gain an advantage in future strategic weapons negotiations.
Los Alamos National Laboratory began to develop the W80 warhead in June 1976, which was to produce customized small nuclear warheads for cruise missiles under construction at the time. The basic design of W-80 is derived from B61. The main design difference between the two is probably the smaller second level, which only produces 150,000 tons of TNT equivalent, and the design is more simplified, only two equivalent settings are given: 5000 tons And 150,000 tons. The W80 warhead is quite small, weighing about 130 kilograms, 30 cm in diameter, and 80 cm in length. The bomber has the ability to choose the explosive equivalent before dropping the bomb.
In 2014, the W80-1 life extension program was launched, and the warhead was Designated as W80-4. The warhead will be used for ALCM cruise missiles and a new type of stealth cruise missile. The first production is expected to begin in 2025 and will be completed in 2031. According to the public description of the plan, the W80-4 warhead will be It will not increase the US military’s nuclear capabilities, only refurbish and update components, and increase the safety and reliability of the weapon. The shape of the W80 nuclear cruise missile warhead mounted on the head of
AGM-86B is clearly visible, but the icon next to it shows that these are training bombs. It is not a real live ammunition, but it is still a rare picture for understanding the design of the US military’s nuclear cruise missiles. Cruise missiles of other nuclear powers are likely to have the same similar design. After all, even Pakistan has cruise missiles that can carry nuclear warheads. The bomb bay of
B-52 mounts 8 AGM-86B air-launched nuclear cruise missiles through a rotating pylon. Since 2019, the U.S. military has upgraded the B-52’s bomb bay rotating pylon. In the past, only one continuous launch was possible. 4 missiles, and then continue to power on other missiles before they can be launched. But now the improved bomb bay rotating pylon can charge 8 cruise missiles at the same time at the same time, and can be launched all at a time, which is faster.
, The underwing pylons of the B-52H bomber can also carry 12 AGM-86B missiles, so a B-52H bomber can carry up to 20 nuclear cruise missiles and can launch a large-scale nuclear attack on the enemy’s inland. Compared with the intercontinental missile silos on the ground, the bombers are more survivable and more difficult to track by the enemy.
6 US B-52 bombers headed to the Royal Air Force Fairford on August 22. The 6 bombers traveled along the polar regions. The route flew over Canada and Greenland, and then turned south, passing through the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea. All six bombers deployed this time have nuclear capabilities, which is a strong signal to Russia. All six B-52 bombers total It will be able to carry 120 AGM-86B nuclear cruise missiles. This time the exposure of nuclear warheads is likely to be closely related to the bomber group that approached Russia last time.
But the video released by the US military this time is the content of the actual exercise. It is an exercise on the reliability of the "Aircraft Monitoring and Control" (AMAC) system, but there is no AMAC system in the published pictures. The actual AMAC refers to "the aircraft used for monitoring Equipment that monitors and controls the safety, pre-equipment, armament and fuze function of nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons systems". The AMAC system is also constantly evolving. The picture above is the AMAC system of the F-111 fighter-bomber, which shows various buttons for throwing nuclear weapons. The setting of the nuclear bomb state includes unlocking, setting the nuclear bomb air burst or ground burst and other different states.
But buttons and switches are obviously not safe, and there is a possibility of misoperation. Therefore, the later AMAC system was changed to a password input type, and once the password was entered incorrectly, the internal control circuit of the nuclear bomb would self-destruct, causing the nuclear weapon to completely lose its combat capability. This picture is only an approximation, not the actual equipment of the US military.
The equipment in the red box above is the AMAC secret of the U.S. B-1B bomberCode system. But in fact, the strategic bombers that the US military can throw nuclear weapons, including B-2 and B-52, the real AMAC system may be more complicated, especially the more modern AMAC system has an important function, that is, it can control the state of nuclear weapons on board. , Without pre-setting on the ground. In particular, the AMAC system can re-lock the nuclear weapons on board after starting the nuclear weapons to enter the unlocked state, so that they enter the locked maintenance state, which means that the bombers ready for combat can be recalled at any time.
