Kinglet (nuclear primary) explained

Kinglet was a boosted fission primary used in several American thermonuclear weapons.^[1]

The W55 warhead for the UUM-44 SUBROC anti-submarine missile and the W58 warhead for Polaris A-3 were designed to use Kinglet, while the W47 warhead for Polaris A-1/A-2 were retrofitted with Kinglet to overcome the technical issues with the Robin primary the W47 was initially deployed with.^{[2] [3]} Allegedly, only the W47Y2 was converted to the Mod 3 design using Kinglet.

Design

The Kinglet device was approximately 11.2- in diameter, 11.5- in length and weighed approximately 58-.

The device was of the two-point design. Two-point devices only require two detonators to fire the whole device, compared to earlier nuclear weapons that required tens of detonators.

Characteristics of the warheads that used Kinglet are:

Kinglet primary based nuclear weapons

Warhead	Max Yield	Diameter	Length	Weight
W47Y2 Mod 3	1200ktTNT	18disp=flip0disp=flip	47disp=flip0disp=flip	733disp=flip0disp=flip
W55	5ktTNT	13.5disp=flip0disp=flip	39.4disp=flip0disp=flip	470disp=flip0disp=flip
W58	200ktTNT	15.6disp=flip0disp=flip	40disp=flip0disp=flip	257disp=flip0disp=flip

See also

• List of nuclear weapons
• Teller-Ulam design
• Tsetse primary
• Python primary

Bibliography

• Beware the old story by Chuck Hansen, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2001 pp. 52-55 (vol. 57, no. 02)
• http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons?Allbombs.html
• The History of the UK. Strategic Deterrent: The Chevaline Programme. Published:2004 by the Royal Aeronautical Society, London.

Notes and References

1. Book: Chuck Hansen. 978-0-9791915-1-0. I. Swords of Armageddon. 2007. 398. .
2. Book: Chuck Hansen. 978-0-9791915-5-8. V. Swords of Armageddon. 2007. 15. .
3. Book: Chuck Hansen. 978-0-9791915-6-5. VI. Swords of Armageddon. 2007. 436. .