The Weapons

The amount of HEU that becomes avadable for civdian use through the 1990s and into the twenty-first century depends on the number of warheads removed from nuclear arsenals and the amount of HEU in the weapons complex that is already outside of the warheads, ie, materials stockpdes and spent naval reactor fuels. An illustrative example of the potential amounts of weapons-grade materials released from dismanded nuclear weapons is presented in Table 7 (36). Using the data in Table 7, a reduction in the number of warheads in nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia to 5000 warheads for each country results in a surplus of 1140 t of HEU. This inventory of HEU is equivalent to 205,200 t of natural uranium metal, or approximately 3.5 times the 1993 annual demand for natural uranium equivalent. 

Some critics recommend that the weapons laboratories (Los Alamos, Sandia, Lawrence Livermore) come under the control of the Department of Defense, and that ownership of the other laboratories be sold to the highest bidder, or turned over to the administrator now running the laboratory. The new owner can then contract with public and private entities in the free market, or shut down the laboratories. They contend that this is the best way for the laboratories to create a vision with value and effectively carry out a mission. 

Malfunctions of small arms ammo using the M34 primer have been related to inadequate control of pellet wt in the primer, with low pellet weight causing hangfires in the weapon. At the Army Mechanics and Materials Research Center (AMMRC), Watertown, Mass, NAA was investigated for 100% inspection of pellet wt in such primers (Refs 5 6)... 

Firing tests with the other cal handgnns indicated distinguishable differences in the overall distribution patterns of discharge residues from different handguns. This unique distribution pattern of residues deposited immediately below the flight path of the bullet results from the cloud of combustion products emitted thru the barrel of/the weapon. 

Off-Carriage Fire Control. A process of controlling fire on a target with the aid of a sighting device which is not mounted directly on the weapon Ref J. Quick, Dictionary of Weapons and Military Terms , McGraw-Hill, NY (1973), 333... 

Panzerschreck. A Ger Wwii weapon, similar to the American Bazooka. It fired an 88mm projectile, which was about 50% larger than the Bazooka, but its trajectory was more curved and its range shorter. Two persons were required to operate the weapon. Later in the war, the rocket size was increased to 100mm. This resulted in better penetration, but made the weapon too heavy to use, and it was superseded by the Panzerfaust. 

When designing a stab detonator, the engineer will select the firing pin so that the entire initiation mechanism is under control. This permits close coordination with other systems designers involved in the weapon development, and thus insures that the stab detonator will receive the proper stimulus... 

There continnes to be public concern about the possibility of their being used in future. When Saddam Hussein was in power in Iraq, there was evidence that a chemical weapon of this type was used against Kurdish villagers. Subsequently, it was widely believed that these were among the weapons of mass destruction held by Saddam Hnssein s regime weapons that failed to materialize after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Since these events, there has been concern that weapons of this type may be in the possession of rogne states— or individual terror groups. 

Putting self at risk. If agitated they could use the weapon on you. 

H. Bruce Wallace is currently a senior staff systems engineer for ORSA Corporation, where he is an internationally recognized expert on millimeter-wave (MMW) and sub-MMW technology. He retired as a civilian employee for the Department of the Army, with which he was most recently acting as deputy and director of the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate of the Army Research Laboratory. Pre-... 

Fludd, Robert. Dr Fludds answer unto M. Foster or, the squesing of Parson Fosters sponge, ordained by him for the wiping away of the weapon-salve. .. London , 1631. 

Debus, Allen George. Robert Fludd and the use of Gilbert s De Magnete in the weapon-salve controversy. J Hist Med Allied Sci 19, no. 4 (Oct 1964) 389-417. 

A particular focus of ourjoint efforts in the DOE work with Minatom has been to reduce the amounts of special nuclear material and to increase the security and accountability of the material that remains. Commercial nuclear power plants are key to the program, since that is where the weapons material is ultimately burned. ... 

Airborne poisons in the nuclear weapons progam were not limited to radioactive materials released from weapons. The weapons technology involved the use of many exotic materials, some of which were toxic (e.g., beryllium). Hazardous releases of these materials occurred in industrial settings in urban areas and were studied by the Atomic Energy Commission as occupational and public health problems. 

Requirements 1 and 3 follow immediately from the considerations of the theory of detonation when it is remembered that the purpose of the charge is to obtain maximum effect, both from the shock wave of the explosive and also from the destructive effect of expansion of the explosion products. Requirements 1 and 2 follow from the consideration that any reduction in size and weight of the warhead of a missile, or in a shell, immediately makes it possible to increase the range and therefore the usefulness of the weapon. Requirement 5 relates not only to safety, but also the desirability, particularly for armour-piercing ammunition, for the time of detonation to be determined solely by the functioning of an appropriate fuze. 

Small arms may be taken to mean weapons with a bore of less than 2-5 cm, whether the barrel is smooth or rifled. Compared with larger weapons, they have light bullets or shot and have relatively short barrels. Propellants used must therefore be fast burning and have small web thickness. The factors which determine design of powder depend also on the individual characteristics of the weapons. 

The smallest common rifle is of 0-22 in (0-56 cm) calibre as used for target shooting. The weapons themselves have barrels which are neither particularly short, nor with any noteworthy restrictions on strength. On the other hand, the ammunition is of a particular type known as rimfire, as illustrated in Fig. 19.2. The name comes from the method of firing which is... 

This technique provides a method of initiating primacord—-and thus any explosive charge—if a regular blasting cap is not available. The device may be rigged as a booby trap with trip wire or it can be fired remotely by the operator. Since the technique does require the destruction of a usable rifle it likely would be used only when there is no other alternative. In addition, care should be taken in all phases of the preparation, because when the weapon is fired it will break into many fragments which would severely injure anyone holding the weapon or close to it. 

Now close the action of the rifle, release the safety, and retire to a safe position at least 50 yards away, being sure not to trip over the trip wire or pull cord. If the pull cord is used, take up any slack in the line and then pull firmly to fire the weapon and detonate the charge. 

The weapons in the hands of the electrochemist when a mechanistic investigation is launched are ... 

In our case, the prime robbery was a national program of aggrandizement at the expense of the peoples of other nations. As for the defendants part, was it necessary to show that they knew with absolute certainty that the weapon would be fired If it was proved that they had participated substantially in preparing the weapon, and that they knew it would be used in the holdup as a threat, was that not enough to prove their guilt as participants in the resulting crimes ... 

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