thumb|Exploded diagram of the Mark 21 reentry vehicle for the W87|300px
Key facts
- Weapon.name
- W87
- Weapon.image
- W87 Peacekeeper warheads.png
- Weapon.image_size
- 300
- Weapon.caption
- The Mark 21 reentry vehicles shown here for the LGM-118A Peacekeeper contain W87 warheads.
- Weapon.type
- Thermonuclear warhead
- Weapon.is_explosive
- yes
- Weapon.service
- 1986–present
- Weapon.used_by
- United States
- Weapon.designer
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Weapon.design_date
- Mod 0: February 1982 Mod 1: November 1986 to July 1988, March 2019 to 2030
- Weapon.production_date
- Mod 0: July 1986 to December 1988 Mod 1: 2030 onwards
- Weapon.number
- 525
- Weapon.variants
- 2
- Weapon.detonation
- Contact, airburst
- Weapon.yield
- 300 kt (W87-0) 475 kt (W87-1)
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
5 sectionsContents
- Description
- W87 mod 1
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|Exploded diagram of the Mark 21 reentry vehicle for the W87|300px
The W87 is an American thermonuclear missile warhead formerly deployed on the LGM-118A Peacekeeper ("MX") ICBM. Fifty MX missiles were built, each carrying up to 10 W87 warheads in multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV), and were deployed from 1986 to 2005. Starting in 2007, 250 of the W87 warheads from retired Peacekeeper missiles were retrofitted onto much older Minuteman III missiles, with one warhead per missile. An upgraded version is planned for use on the forthcoming LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM.