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Navy Weighing Need for New Core in its Next Nuclear Warhead

Navy Weighing Need for New Core in its Next Nuclear Warhead
Artist rendering of the future Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), which will replace the Ohio-class submarines. (Illustration: U.S. Navy)

With the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) capacity to manufacture new nuclear weapon cores still a question mark, the Navy is studying whether the recently funded W93 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead needs a brand new plutonium pit, the admiral in charge of the service’s nuclear weapon systems said Thursday. “We are, in the [Department of Defense], trying to determine what is the right path forward given what [the National Nuclear Security Administration’s] NNSA’s capability is ... not just today, but…

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