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warhead

{{Short description|Section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic material}}{{Other uses}}

{{no footnotes|date=February 2014}}

File:B-61 bomb (DOE).jpg in various stages of assembly; the nuclear warhead is the bullet-shaped silver canister in the middle-left of the photograph.]]

A warhead is the section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb.

Classification

Types of warheads include:

  • Explosive: An explosive charge is used to disintegrate the target, and damage surrounding areas with a blast wave.
  • Conventional: Chemicals such as gunpowder and high explosives store significant energy within their molecular bonds. This energy can be released quickly by a trigger, such as an electric spark. Thermobaric weapons enhance the blast effect by utilizing the surrounding atmosphere in their explosive reactions.
  • Blast: A strong shock wave is provided by the detonation of the explosive.
  • Fragmentation: Metal fragments are projected at high velocity to cause damage or injury.
  • Continuous rod: Metal bars welded on their ends form a compact cylinder of interconnected rods, which is violently expanded into a contiguous zig-zag-shaped ring by an explosive detonation. The rapidly expanding ring produces a planar cutting effect that is devastating against military aircraft, which may be designed to be resistant to shrapnel.
  • Shaped charge: The effect of the explosive charge is focused onto a specially shaped metal liner to project a hypervelocity jet of metal, to perforate heavy armour.
  • Explosively formed penetrator: Instead of turning a thin metal liner into a focused jet, the detonation wave is directed against a concave metal plate at the front of the warhead, propelling it at high velocity while simultaneously deforming it into a projectile.
  • Nuclear: A runaway nuclear fission (fission bomb) or nuclear fusion (Thermonuclear weapon) reaction causes immense energy release.
  • Chemical: A toxic chemical, such as poison gas or nerve gas, is dispersed, which is designed to injure or kill human beings.
  • Biological: An infectious agent, such as anthrax spores, is dispersed, which is designed to sicken or kill humans.

Often, a biological or chemical warhead will use an explosive charge for rapid dispersal.

Detonators

Explosive warheads contain detonators to trigger the explosion.

Types of detonators include:

class="wikitable"

!Type

!Definition

Contact

|When the warhead makes physical contact with the target, the explosive is detonated. Sometimes combined with a delay, to detonate a specific amount of time after contact.

Proximity

|Using radar, sonar, a magnetic sensor, or a laser, the warhead is detonated when the target is within a specified distance. It is often coupled with directional explosion control system that ensures that the explosion sends the fragmentation primarily towards the target that triggered it.

Timed

|Warhead is detonated after a specific amount of time.

Altitude

|Warhead is detonated once it falls to a specified altitude, usually in an air burst.

Remote

|Remotely detonated via signal from operator. (Not normally used for warheads except for self-destruction)

Combined

|Any combination of the above.

See also

References

{{Commons category|Warheads}}

  1. {{Cite web |date=9 January 2007 |title=The B61 (Mk-61) Bomb |url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/B61.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130163335/https://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/B61.html |archive-date=Nov 30, 2023 |website=The Nuclear Weapon Archive}}
  2. {{cite web |website=GlobalSecurity.org |title=B61 |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/b61.htm |date=April 16, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316070648/https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/b61.htm |archive-date= Mar 16, 2023 }}
  3. {{Cite web |title=B61 Nuclear Gravity Bomb |url=http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/b61.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310070922/http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/b61.aspx |archive-date=Mar 10, 2012 |website=Brookings Institution}}
  4. Stephen I. Schwartz. "[http://www.brookings.edu/press/Books/1998/atomic.aspx Atomic Audit - The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940]". Brookings Institution Press, 1998.
  5. {{Cite web |date=2008 |title=B61 Thermonuclear Bomb |url=http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5707 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525134453/http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5707 |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |website=Hill Air Force Base}}
  6. {{Cite web |date=June 30, 2006 |title=NNSA Achieves Significant Milestone for B61 Bomb |url=http://nnsa.energy.gov/news/1032.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730194433/http://nnsa.energy.gov/news/1032.htm |archive-date=Jul 30, 2009 |website=NNSA}}
  7. Chuck Hansen, U.S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History, (New York: Orion Books, 1988), pp. 162–164.

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Category:Ammunition

Category:Explosive weapons

Category:Missiles