Deployed nuclear weapons do not contain the underperforming commercial capacitors blamed for delaying delivery of the first B61-12 and W88 Alt 370 nuclear weapons, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday.
The semiautonomous Department of Energy weapons agency “has verified that these components are not in use in other deployed weapons, nor will they be considered for use in other programs that are in early stages of development,” an NNSA spokesperson said by email.
The NNSA refused to identify the vendor for the capacitors, which store electrical charges, and has not said which weapons subsystems required the now-disqualified devices. The agency decided in 2014 to use commercial capacitors for the decade-long, multibillion-dollar programs to refurbish the B61 gravity bomb and the submarine-launched W88 ballistic-missile warhead.
The NNSA thought the commercial capacitors could do the job, but “in recent formal qualification testing, NNSA did not see the necessary performance results,” the agency spokesperson wrote.
The NNSA’s Kansas City National Security Campus in Missouri procured the capacitors. Honeywell Federal Manufacturing manages that facility.
B61-12 and W88 Alt 370 are two of the NNSA’s active nuclear weapon refurbishment programs. Just behind those two programs on the agency’s to-do list are the W80-4 cruise-missile warhead life extension and the modification program for the W87-1 silo-launched intercontinental ballistic-missile (ICBM) warhead. The latter program will replace the W78 warheads deployed on silo-launched ICBMs today.
Completed in December at a cost of about $4 billion was the W76-1 program to keep that high-yield, submarine-launched ballistic warhead in service for another 20 years.
B61-12 will homogenize four existing versions of the oldest deployed U.S. nuclear weapon, including one with ground-penetration capability. The NNSA expects to deliver the first B61-12 to the Air Force in 2020 and the last in 2025. Including the NNSA’s $8 billion share of the bill, B61-12 is estimated to cost about $12 billion in civilian and Petagon funding over the 20 years ending 2025.
W88 Alt 370 aims to replace parts of the electric detonation system that triggers the newer of the Navy’s two submarine-launched ballistic-missile warheads. The NNSA and the Pentagon estimated that this so-called major alteration, which also involves replacing the warhead’s conventional high explosives, would cost about $4 billion over roughly 10 years, including up to $3 billion in NNSA expenses.
NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty disclosed the expected delays last week during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. The DOE branch has not yet estimated how long B61-12 and W88 Alt 370 might be delayed.
“NNSA is currently pursuing mitigation strategies,” the agency spokesperson stated,
Gordon-Hagerty said last week it might take “months” to figure out how the NNSA will get the two weapons refurbishment programs back on track.
Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee is set Tuesday to mark up an NNSA budget bill that was written before the weapons agency publicly disclosed delays for B61-12 and W88 Alt 370.
Air Force Releases Details of B61-12 Tail Kit Production Contract
Last week, the Air Force said Boeing’s contract to build the tail kit that will guide the B61-12 bomb during free fall is worth $215 million over four years.
The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida released the initial funds for the sole-source tail kit assembly contract in May after announcing in December that Boeing’s design was ready for production. However, the service did not disclose the financial terms of the pact until May 8, when it released its Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition.
The NNSA is building the B61-12 gravity bomb itself, but the Air Force is responsible for integrating the weapon with carrier aircraft, including versions of: the U.S. B-2 bomber; the planned B-21; the F-15; F-16; F-35; and the German-made PA-200. That is according to the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center.
