Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: ndsuvax!nuschrei@uunet.UU.NET (wes schreiner)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Nuclear Devastation
Summary: current # of W33 nuke artillery
Message-ID: <7059@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 2 Jun 89 02:35:46 GMT
References: <7001@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7023@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: Human Metasystems
Lines: 33
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: ndsuvax!nuschrei@uunet.UU.NET (wes schreiner)

In article <7023@cbnews.ATT.COM> wolit@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (Jan Wolitzky) writes:
 
> From: wolit@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (Jan Wolitzky)
> > The 200,000 warheads seems like an exageration.  I think
> > that most modern artillery shell nukes are smaller than
> > Hiroshima.
 
> Some are, some aren't.  The W33 warhead for the M422 8-inch (203mm)
> artillery-fired atomic projectile (AFAP) has a selectable yield of up
> to 12 Kt, which is about the same as Little Boy.  As of 1983, there
> were about 1800 of these deployed.
             ^^^^
There are now 700 in the stockpile.  They are being replaced by the W79 
1.1 Kt non-enhanced radiation warhead.  Current numbers are:

	  # whd       yield
	700 W33 <1 to 12 Kt  variable yield
	300 W79      1.1 Kt  non-enhanced
	 40 W79      0.8 Kt  enhanced rad. (being converted to non-ehanced)
	900 W48      0.1 Kt  155mm (being replaced soon by W82 warhead)
		[source: p49, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists June '89]

I don't have any data on the W82.  Is it being deployed yet?  By the
numbers above I see a clear majority of "smaller than Hiroshima" yields. 
I wonder how many W33s would be set at maximum yield considering how close 
that 12Kt blast would be.  What is a reasonable range for the W33/M422? 
I'm sure it's too short for me :-)

-wes schreiner      nuschrei@plains.nodak.edu  ||  nuschrei@ndsuvax.UUCP