Feb 132010
As used on the Minuteman III ICBM in conjunction with the W62 nuclear warhead… 170 or so kilotons, perfect for flattening cities and trashing mountainsides.
9 Responses to “Mk 12A Re-Entry Vehicle”
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where does the bomb go…??
The large void volume in the aft half of the shell.
How reliable (factual) do you suppose this drawing is?
Jim
Externally? Probably pretty good. Internally? Well, it’s not like the DoD would spread disinformation, is it?
Does it enter nose first or base first?
Pointy end first.
I’m not familiar with that particular reentry vehicle, but I recall a similar design was intended to still be going supersonic at detonation, better to evade interceptors.
Actually, hypersonic, greater than Mach 5.
The cutaway shows the same internal arrangement as the one in the book “US Nuclear Weapons”, so if it’s been modified, it has been modified in the same way.
The RVs come down so fast that they are still glowing from air friction on impact; here’s a photo of Mk-12s from two Minuteman III’s coming down in the Pacific near Kwajalein Atoll:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/gallery/image21.htm
And a really interesting You Tube video of two coming out of the clouds and actually hitting the surface: http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=o8n59S8j2C0&feature=related