The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center recently carried out a test launch of a new warhead carrier for the forthcoming Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, the service said in a statement.
The unarmed warhead known as the Mk21A reentry vehicle was launched Oct. 9 atop a Minotaur I test rocket, the statement said.
Reentry vehicles, or RVs, are cone-shaped, high-technology missile stages used to target nuclear warheads from space. They range from single to multiple warhead configurations and the Mk21A is the next-generation weapon.
People were interested in these podcasts
“The Mk21A is crucial to modernizing our ICBMs in response to the rapidly changing global threat picture posed by our adversaries,” said Maj. Gen. William Rogers, Air Force acquisition executive for ICBMs at the Nuclear Weapons Center. “The reentry vehicle’s development will ensure a safe, secure and effective deterrent for generations to come.”
The RV is being developed by Lockheed Martin and will carry the W87-1 nuclear warhead, a new thermonuclear weapon developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a higher-yield replacement for the aging W78 warhead now on Minuteman III missiles.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.