This is the Second Edition of A Technical History of America\'s Nuclear Weapons: Volume I - Introduction and Nuclear Developments Through 1960. 6) Provides information on explosives and the methods used to compress fissile cores, especially the plastic bonded explosives.
Like the First Edition, this Second Edition is lavishly illustrated with hundreds of photographs.
Volume I: 1) Has about 1,000 selected references, grouped into related categories 2) Uses official Military Characteristic (Parts) Numbers for components where available, a very useful tool for internet searches 3)Provides detailed information on the production of uranium and its enrichment in for use in Nuclear weapons 4) Provides detailed information on the recovery of plutonium from spent fuel rods and the casting of plutonium cores 5) Outlines the evolution of Nuclear pits: solid, composite, levitated, hollow, boosted, linear and linear boosted.
Basic data about weapon operation, delivery systems, and deployments are also included.
It combines development histories with engineering descriptions to illustrate the performance characteristics of the weapons and the design challenges that faced their developers.
The Second half of Volume I examines early American Nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
Albert Einstein declared that if you can\'t tell a story without the use of mathematics, you really don\'t understand your subject matter.
The use of equations is shunned.
This story is told in a straightforward easy to understand manner.
It also includes sections on non-proliferation and the current management of the US Nuclear Stockpile.
The Introduction closes with a review of early warning and targeting, Nuclear war plans, the deployment of Nuclear forces, and the evolution of strategic doctrine during the period of the Cold War.
These are followed by a discussion intended to clearly convey what would have happened if Nuclear weapons were ever put to use.
Included are chapters on weapon design, the military-industrial complex, and stockpile logistics.
For the convenience of the Reader, Volume I has an introductory section that places the American Nuclear arsenal into its historical context and provides the basic Technical background needed to understand the weapon\'s mechanisms.
The people, laboratories, and politicians who championed these weapons have been dealt with by other authors.
It is called a Technical History because it focuses on Nuclear weapons and Nuclear weapons (delivery) systems.
This is the Second Edition of A Technical History of America\'s Nuclear Weapons: Volume I - Introduction and Nuclear Developments Through 1960
