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US Forgets How To Make Trident Missiles
Hugh Pickens writes "The US and the UK are trying to refurbish the aging W76 warheads that tip Trident missiles to prolong their life and ensure they are safe and reliable but plans have been put on hold because US scientists have forgotten how to manufacture a mysterious but very hazardous component of the warhead codenamed Fogbank. 'NNSA had lost knowledge of how to manufacture the material because it had kept few records of the process when the material was made in the 1980s, and almost all staff with expertise on production had retired or left the agency,' says the report by a US congressional committee. Fogbank is thought by some weapons experts to be a foam used between the fission and fusion stages of the thermonuclear bomb on the Trident Missile and US officials say that manufacturing Fogbank requires a solvent cleaning agent which is 'extremely flammable' and 'explosive,' and that the process involves dealing with 'toxic materials' hazardous to workers. 'This is like James Bond destroying his instructions as soon as he has read them,' says John Ainslie, the co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, adding that 'perhaps the plans for making Fogbank were so secret that no copies were kept.' Thomas D'Agostino, administrator or the US National Nuclear Security Administration, told a congressional committee that the administration was spending 'a lot of money' trying to make 'Fogbank' at Y-12, but 'we're not out of the woods yet.'"
you can download the instruction from the Pirate Bay...
Just get Gordon Ramsay to taste it. He'll tell you what's in it.
Wouldn't it be ironic if the missing ingredient in making Fogbank was Butter?
Torontoman
My European grandmother made a cake that could easily withstand the middle stages of a nuclear explosion.
The material in the design specification was essentially unobtanium.
... also known as element 404.
Wouldn't it be ironic if the missing ingredient in making Fogbank was Butter?
Torontoman
Actually, there are several missing ingredients.
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
Perhaps we can buy back the plans from China? Thank Clinton for selling them most of our nuclear secrets.
He wasn't selling secrets, he was making backups!
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Unless you have to overcome the counter measures and the chances that a few of your warheads may malfunction. We must calulate in a safety factor for annihlating the entire world. I think a factor of 5 to 10 (or maybe a little more) should be adequate.
Yee-haw!
Maybe you should visit your local pharmacist and ask him to give you something for redness around the neck area.
Governments are made of people. And people are stupid.
Best t-shirt slogan ever!
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I think Iran is pumping up oil to increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to melt the icecaps, releasing vast amounts of Dihydrogen Monoxide into the environment to kill scores of people and wreak economic havoc!
It's chemical warfare, plain and simple!
According to Dr. Seuss, that would just lead to an arms race between countries that butter their warheads on top and those who butter their warheads on the bottom.
I agree, let's instead turn into the global superpower of pranksters. I say we load up every missle completely with 3/4 inch round superballs. then program the missles to detonate their ejection charge 2 miles up. that would allow a wide dispersion. Also add bullhorns with parachutes and a looping mp3 of "HA-HA!" over and over and over falling out of the sky.
we can also rebuild a Saturn 5 and equip it with a very large self deploying cream pie to shoot at North Korea.
You'd never notice a launch, because they're launching aircraft of all sizes out of there night and day with constant training flights and U2 overflight.
Fucking Bono.
You probably wouldn't see that red if you would take off those glasses. You should probably ask your doctor about that yellow around your midsection as well.
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
There are a few "retired" battleships that are basically floating museums now that fit that criteria.
Ooh, yeah! And their outdated tech will allow them to survive the electronic attack that obliterates the rest of the fleet; they will wander the oceans for four years looking for the mythical "Great Britain", and then the last couple of episodes will be really boring.
sic transit gloria mundi