thumb|250px|Drawing of the Mark 12A reentry vehicle that houses the W78 warhead.
Key facts
- Weapon.name
- W78
- Weapon.image
- File:W78 MK12A RV Minuteman III bus.jpg
- Weapon.caption
- Mark 12A reentry vehicles mounted on a Minuteman III warhead bus. Each Mark 12A reentry vehicle contains a W78 nuclear warhead.
- Weapon.type
- Nuclear weapon
- Weapon.is_explosive
- yes
- Weapon.used_by
- United States Air Force
- Weapon.designer
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Weapon.detonation
- Contact, airburst
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- thermonuclear weapon
- Country of origin
- United States
- Image
- W78 MK12A RV Minuteman III.jpg
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
5 sectionsContents
- History
- Design
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|250px|Drawing of the Mark 12A reentry vehicle that houses the W78 warhead.
The W78 is an American thermonuclear warhead with an estimated yield of , deployed on the LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and housed in the Mark 12A reentry vehicle. Minuteman III initially carried the older W62 warhead with a yield of , but starting in December 1979 and ending in February 1982, some W62 were replaced with the W78. It is publicly estimated that 1083 warheads were manufactured.