WE177 Air-Launched Nuclear Bomb
From Object Wiki
| WE177 air-launched nuclear bomb | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Manufacturer | Hunting Engineering, Luton. ROF Burghfield, ROF Cardiff, AWE Aldermaston. |
| Production years | 1966 - circa 1975. |
| Production location | Luton. Burghfield and Aldermaston, Berks. Cardiff. |
The WE177 air-launched nuclear bomb first entered service in Britain in 1966. It replaced a number of other earlier and physically larger British nuclear weapons, and was originally intended for use by RAF and Royal Navy tactical bomber aircraft, principally TSR2 and Buccaneer. It was later used to equip several RAF squadrons of Jaguar and Buccaneer aircraft based in the UK and Germany, and six squadrons of Tornados, similarly based. It was manufactured for this purpose in two versions, as a 10 kiloton yield bomb, and as a 190 kiloton bomb. The smaller weapon was also carried by helicopters of the Fleet Air Arm based aboard carriers, destroyers and frigates for use as an anti-submarine depth bomb. The first British nuclear weapon in that category, and forty three of these depth bombs were supplied to the Royal Navy. After the cancellation in 1962 of the Skybolt air-launched nuclear missile intended to be carried by Vulcan aircraft of RAF Bomber Command, a larger 450 kiloton yield version of WE.177, known initially as Weapon X, and later as WE.177B was hurriedly produced for the Vulcan, and in use by late 1966. Fifty three of these larger weapons were produced to equip forty eight aircraft, plus spares. These larger weapons were retained after the Vulcans were retired, and were 'handed-down' to the Tornado aircraft, serving into the mid-1990's.
Contents |
[edit] How it works
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it. |
Nuclear bombs work by enabling a chain reaction of uncontrolled nuclear fission to occur in a small mass of fissile material such as uranium or plutonium. The explosion from such a fission device is many times larger that that achieved many conventional explosives.
Fission bombs are limited in size for numerous technical, financial and political reasons. Containing in one weapon the amounts of fissile material needed for a large fission bomb can create dangerous conditions within the weapon, so there are practical limits to the amounts, and hence the bomb's yield. Large amounts of fissile material also makes the weapon vulnerable to countermeasures from neutron emissions from external nuclear explosions.
Fissile material is costly to produce and the products of fission are politically unacceptable. However, used as a small trigger mechanism a fission device can be relatively immune from countermeasures, be more politically acceptable, and be just large enough to ignite fusion fuel in a thermonuclear bomb to produce a much larger explosion, and more cheaply. Most modern nuclear weapons are of this type.
Thermonuclear bombs work by fusing light elements in a similar manner to the fusion reaction we see in the sun. A fission bomb trigger is the only known way to generate the extreme temperatures and pressures required for ignition.
[edit] Memories
|
|
Do you remember working with nuclear bombs? Add your memories. |
[edit] In the Science Museum
The Museum acquired this object, on loan from the Royal Air Force Museum, in 2008 for the Dan Dare exhibition.
Inv: L2008-4008
Audio Tour Call 020 7112 2020 when Prompted dial 905
This object is currently on display in the Dan Dare & the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain exhibition at the Science Museum, London.