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Variable yield, or dial-a-yield, an option available on most modern nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion....
s, allows the operator to specify a weapon's yield
Nuclear weapon yield

The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy, called the yield, discharged when a nuclear weapon is detonated, expressed usually in the equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene , either in kilotons or megatons , but sometimes also in terajoules ....
, or explosive power, allowing a single design to be used in different situations. For example, the Mod-10 B61 bomb
B61 nuclear bomb

The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear weapon in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War....
 had selectable explosive yields of 0.3, 5, 10 or 80 Kt, depending on how the ground crew set a dial inside the casing when it was loaded onto an aircraft.

Variable yield technology has existed since at least the 1960s.






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Variable yield, or dial-a-yield, an option available on most modern nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion....
s, allows the operator to specify a weapon's yield
Nuclear weapon yield

The explosive yield of a nuclear weapon is the amount of energy, called the yield, discharged when a nuclear weapon is detonated, expressed usually in the equivalent mass of trinitrotoluene , either in kilotons or megatons , but sometimes also in terajoules ....
, or explosive power, allowing a single design to be used in different situations. For example, the Mod-10 B61 bomb
B61 nuclear bomb

The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear weapon in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War....
 had selectable explosive yields of 0.3, 5, 10 or 80 Kt, depending on how the ground crew set a dial inside the casing when it was loaded onto an aircraft.

Variable yield technology has existed since at least the 1960s. Examples of variable yield weapons include the B83
B83 nuclear bomb

The B83 nuclear weapon is a dial-a-yield gravity bomb developed by the United States in the late 1970s, entering service in 1983 in aviation. It was based partly on the earlier B77 nuclear bomb program, which was terminated due to cost overruns....
, W80
W80

The W80 is a small thermonuclear warhead in the Enduring Stockpile with an Variable yield of between 5 and 150 KT trinitrotoluene.It was designed for deployment on cruise missiles and is the warhead used in the majority of nuclear-armed US Air Force AGM-86 and AGM-129 missiles, and their US Navy counterpart, the BGM-109 Tomahawk....
, W85
W85

The W85 was a thermonuclear warhead developed by the United States of America to arm the Pershing II missile. It had a variable yield— often referred to as "dial-a-yield" — which could be set between 5 and 80 kilotons....
 and WE177A warheads.

Dial-a-yield can be achieved with fusion
Nuclear fusion

In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple like-charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus....
 neutron
Neutron

The neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton.Neutrons are usually found in atomic nucleus....
 boosting. This can be accomplished by injecting a few milliliters of deuterium
Deuterium

Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance in the oceans of Earth of approximately one atom in 6500 of hydrogen ....
-tritium
Tritium

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The atomic nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of Hydrogen atom contains one proton and no neutrons....
 (DT) gas
Gas

In physics, a gas is a state of matter, consisting of a collection of particles without a definite shape or volume that are in more or less random motion....
 into the vacuum
Vacuum

A vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty," but in reality, no volume of space can ever be perfectly empty....
 of a hollow core pit inside of a fission
Nuclear fission

In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the atomic nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts, often producing free neutrons and lighter atomic nucleus, which may eventually produce photons ....
-type nuclear weapon. When the dial is turned it may open a valve that will inject a small amount of DT gas into the core of the device. Then the atomic core is plugged, and the high-explosive trigger is assembled.

One weapon that may use this approach is the W88
W88

The W88 is a United States nuclear warhead, with an estimated yield of 475 kiloton , and is small enough to fit on MIRVed missiles. The W88 was designed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1970s....
 warhead currently used on American SLBM
Submarine-launched ballistic missile

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles or SLBMs are ballistic missiles delivering nuclear weapons that are launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to strike several targets....
s. The W-88 with fresh tritium inside its pit may explode with a yield of 475 kilotons
Ton

Units of massThere are several similar units of mass or volume called the ton:Others*The long ton is used for petroleum products such as aviation fuel....
, but with no tritium inside the core it might explode with the force of just 20 kilotons.

All current British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 nuclear warheads incorporate variable yield technology as standard.

See also

  • Nuclear weapon design
    Nuclear weapon design

    Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a Nuclear weapons to detonate. There are three basic design types....


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