W45 (nuclear warhead)

The W45 was a multipurpose American nuclear warhead developed in the early 1960s, first built in 1962 and fielded in some applications until 1988.

The W45 was designed at the Livermore branch of the University of California Radiation Laboratory (UCRL), now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

[2] Instead, the warhead received a three-digit combination padlock to restrict access to the device.

[3] Among six of the 16 LLNL-developed warhead designs that entered the US nuclear weapon stockpile beginning in 1958, the W45 entered the stockpile in 1962, around the time of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signing in 1963.

The W45 was one of three designs that needed revision following testing after finding problems, for the W45 this was due to radioactive aging reducing the yield to roughly one half of the original design, and refitting a modified chemical explosive.