The Navy’s W93/Mk7 nuclear warhead and reentry system has entered the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase after achieving Milestone B, advancing the first new U.S. nuclear warhead program initiated in nearly four decades.
The Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive Strategic Systems Programs announced Sept. 24 that the W93/Mk7 program had entered the EMD phase of the Defense Acquisition System. A program is authorized to enter the EMD phase after achieving Milestone B, meaning it transitions from a research effort to locking in a formal cost, schedule and technical performance baseline.
The phase will focus on completing the production design and demonstrating that the system can be manufactured to meet Navy requirements, according to the Navy.
The W93 warhead and Mk7 reentry body assembly are being developed to provide a modern warhead for the Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missile fleet.
“W93/Mk7 will provide flexibility and adaptability to meet future Warfighter needs” and support the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad, Vice Adm. Douglas Williams, director of PAE Strategic Systems Programs, said in the announcement.
Williams said the program was able to accelerate its entry into EMD through cooperation among the Navy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the defense industrial base.
“Credible deterrence demands that we move with urgency, and the progress we’re making on W93/Mk7 demonstrates exactly that,” NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams also said in the release. “We are revitalizing and modernizing the Nuclear Security Enterprise to design, develop, and produce this critical new weapon with the precision our Warfighters demand. We will continue working together to deliver this capability to the fleet and ensure our sea-based strategic deterrent remains ready for the future.”
The Navy is working with NNSA and its national laboratories through the interagency Nuclear Weapons Life Cycle process to design, develop and produce the W93/Mk7.
The program is part of a broader effort to modernize the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad. The Navy is also developing the D5LE2 strategic weapon system for submarine-launched ballistic missiles and supporting integration of the Trident II D5 Life Extension system aboard Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
The Navy also identified development of the nuclear-armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear, or SLCM-N, and the non-nuclear Conventional Prompt Strike system among its strategic modernization efforts.