W62 | |
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![]() Airmen work on the W62 warheads of an LGM-30G Minuteman III’s Multiple Independently-targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) system. | |
Type | Nuclear warhead |
Service history | |
In service | 1970–2010 |
Used by | United States |
Production history | |
Designer | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |
Designed | 1963–1968 |
Produced | March 1970 to June 1976 |
No. built | 1725 |
Specifications | |
Mass | 253 pounds (115 kg) |
Detonation mechanism | Contact, airburst |
Blast yield | 170 kilotonnes of TNT (710 TJ) |
The W62 was an American thermonuclear warhead designed in the 1960s and manufactured from March 1970 to June 1976. Used on some Minuteman III ICBMs, it was partially replaced by the W78 starting in December 1979, and fully replaced by W87 warheads removed from MX Peacekeeper missiles and retired in 2010.[1][2]