W28 Warhead Building Block Drawing with Corrections
Copyright 2021 by Michael H. Maggelet
Many decades ago, the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico published a drawing of the building block concept for the W28 warhead. The W28 was an easy system to maintain, and was used in a wide variety of configurations before the advent of "dial a yield" weapons (there were five different yield variants, the yield being set during manufacture). There were several different modifications of the W28, used in tactical and strategic bombs, and as missile warheads.
With that in mind, there was a minor error in the building block drawing, which transposed the B28FI (Full Fusing Internal) with the B28RI (Retarded Internal). This error continues to this day, with writers, authors, and plastic modelers misidentifying these weapons.
Additionally, I've added a depiction of the W49 warhead, which is a modification of the W28. The W49 was used on the Atlas D, Jupiter, Thor (and Thor Project 437 ASAT).
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
W28 Warhead "Building Block" Drawing with Corrections
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