DoE May Need to Ready First GBSD Warhead Variant for Tests in Three Years, AF Official Says

摘要

The Department of Energy may need to start qualifying the W87 warhead for service aboard Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Missiles in roughly three years, the Air Force’s program director for the next-generation nuke launcher said Thursday. The first test flights for the silo-based missiles that will replace Minuteman Ⅲ will be in “three years or so, give or take,” and test versions of new launcher’s W87-0 variant “need to be ready to fly when we start testing,” Air Force Col. Jason Bartolomei, director of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) Systems Directorate, said in a webcast hosted by the Washingtonbased Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance.