The Mk/B53 was a high-yield bunker buster thermonuclear weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War . Deployed on Strategic Air Command bombers, the B53, with a yield of 9 megatons, was the most powerful weapon in the U.S. nuclear arsenal after the last B41 nuclear bombs were retired in 1976.
The B53 was the basis of the W-53 warhead carried by the Titan II Missile , which was decommissioned in 1987. Although not in active service for many years before 2010, fifty B53s were retained during that time as part of the "Hedge" portion of the Enduring Stockpile until its complete dismantling in 2011. The last B53 was disassembled on 25 October 2011, a year ahead of schedule.
With its retirement, the largest bomb currently in service in the U.S. nuclear arsenal is the B83 , with a maximum yield of 1.2 megatons. The B53 was replaced in the bunker-busting role by a variant of the two-stage B61 nuclear bomb .
The B53 Nuclear Bomb is an open fuse weapon meaning it can only be armed manually, not by electronic means. If the bomb were to have been deployed in wartime the weapon would have been armed only after the bombers were airborne and at cruising altitude. The pilot would give the navigator the order to arm weapons and remove the holding pins on the bombs. This is how it was done (Just be sure not to kick it after arming):
The B53 was 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) long with a diameter of 50 inches (4.17 ft; 1.27 m). It weighed 8,850 pounds (4,010 kg), including the 800-to-900 lb (360-to-410 kg) parachute system and the honeycomb aluminum nose cone to enable the bomb to survive laydown delivery . It had five parachutes: one 5-foot (1.52 m) pilot chute , one 16-foot (4.88 m) extractor chute, and three 48-foot (14.63 m) main chutes. Chute deployment depends on delivery mode, with the main chutes used only for laydown delivery. For free-fall delivery, the entire system was jettisoned.
The warhead of the B53 used oralloy (highly enriched uranium ) instead of plutonium for fission, with a mix of lithium -6 deuteride fuel for fusion. The explosive lens comprised a mixture of RDX and TNT , which was not insensitive . Two variants were made: the B53-Y1 , a "dirty" weapon using a U-238-encased secondary, and the B53-Y2 "clean" version with a non-fissile ( lead or tungsten ) secondary casing. Explosive yield was approximately nine megatons .
Current Warhead Status:
An April 2014 GAO report notes that the NNSA is retaining canned subassemblies (CSAs) " associated with a certain warhead indicated as excess in the 2012 Production and Planning Directive are being retained in an indeterminate state pending a senior-level government evaluation of their use in planetary defense against earthbound asteroids." In its FY2015 budget request, the NNSA noted that the B53 component disassembly was "delayed", leading some observers to conclude they might be the warhead CSAs being retained for potential planetary defense purposes.
As of February 2016 the canned assemblies remain in secure storage at an NNSA site.
The B53: The City Killer
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EXTRA!!!! Full Documentary "Equinox: Dismantling The Bomb"*****************************************************
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