Mark 5 nuclear bomb


The Mark 5 nuclear bomb and W5 nuclear warhead were a common core nuclear weapon design, designed in the early 1950s and which saw service from 1952 to 1963.

Description

The Mark 5 design was the first production American nuclear weapon which was significantly smaller than the 60 inch diameter implosion system of the Fat Man nuclear bomb design first used in 1945, down to 39 inches diameter. The Mark 5 design used a 92-point implosion system and a composite Uranium/Plutonium fissile material core or pit.
The Mark 5 core and W5 warhead were 39 inches in diameter and 76 inches long; the total Mark 5 bomb was 44 inches diameter and 129 to 132 inches long. The different versions of Mark 5 weighed 3,025 to 3,175 pounds ; the W5 versions weighed 2,405 to 2,650 pounds.
The Mark 5 and W5 were pure fission weapons. There were at least four basic models of core design used, and sub-variants with yields of 6, 16, 55, 60, 100, and 120 kilotons have been reported.
As with many early US nuclear weapon designs, the fissile material or pit could be kept separately from the bomb and assembled into it during flight. This technology is known as In Flight Insertion or IFI. The Mark 5 had an automatic IFI mechanism which could insert the pit into the center of the explosive assembly from a storage position in the bomb nose. The image here shows the doors to that nose compartment open.

History

The Mark 5 was in service from 1952 to 1963. The W5 saw service from 1954 to 1963. Approximately 72 Mark 5 weapons were supplied for delivery by RAF bombers but under US control, under the auspices of Project E.
A Mark 5 was used as the primary fission trigger used in Ivy Mike, the first thermonuclear device in history.