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A TECHNICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS: THEIR DESIGN, OPERATION, DELIVERY, AND DEPLOYMENT SECOND EDITION

Since 1945, the United States Armed Forces have fielded 70 different nuclear and thermonuclear devices on approximately 120 weapon systems. During this period, the manufacturing operations of the Manhattan Project, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Department of Energy produced about 70,500 nuclear bombs and warheads. The Air Force and the Navy currently deploy eight types of thermonuclear device on six weapon systems and the Department of Defense maintains about 2,500 nuclear bombs and warheads (tactical and strategic) on active duty. It keeps approximately the same number in reserve. Nuclear publications prior to this book have concentrated mostly on specific topics such as weapon physics, testing, warheads, delivery systems, deployments, or doctrine. The current offering is intended to provide “one-stop shopping” with a broad treatment of the subject. In providing a wide scope, it was necessary to sacrifice a certain amount of depth in order to produce a volume of manageable size. Like the First Edition of this book, the Second Edition has an introductory section that places the American nuclear arsenal into its historical context and provides a basic technical background. Included are Chapters on weapon design, the military-industrial complex, and stockpile logistics. These are followed by a discussion intended to clearly convey what would have happened if nuclear weapons were ever put to use. The introduction closes with a review of early warning and targeting, the initial deployments of nuclear forces, the evolution of strategic doctrine during the period of the Cold War, non-proliferation, and the current management of the US Stockpile. The updated body of this book examines American nuclear weapons and delivery systems in a rough chronological order. It treats some weapons individually, whereas it presents others in functional or family groupings. It also combines development histories with engineering descriptions to illustrate the performance characteristics of the weapons and the design challenges

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