The United States is building the first new nuclear warhead in 40 years but will do so without nuclear testing, Energy Department officials told Congress on Wednesday.
The W93 warhead will be used on submarine-launched ballistic missiles and is being built with $19.8 billion requested by the National Nuclear Security Agency, or NNSA, for weapons in fiscal 2025, according to Senate testimony by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby.
The W93 has been in an early phase of feasibility and design at Los Alamos National Laboratory since May 2022 and is “on track” for production beginning in the mid-2030s, the two officials said in prepared testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Nuclear forces modernization is the Pentagon’s top priority, and the Navy’s nuclear-missile submarines are considered the linchpin of U.S. strategic nuclear forces, which also include ICBMs and bombers.
NNSA stated on its website that the W93 “will allow the U.S. to keep pace with future adversary threats.”
All nuclear components will be based on currently deployed and previously tested nuclear designs.
The W93 will include modern technologies, such as insensitive high explosives used for triggering. Other new features will include improved safety, security and flexibility “to address future threats,” the NNSA said.
The warhead is said to be lighter than the current W76 and W88 warheads, allowing greater missile ranges.
The nuclear missile submarine forces will be scaled down from 14 Ohio-class submarines to 12 Columbia-clas… Read more
