W21
The W21 was an hydrogen bomb design for the US military. It would have used the
At the same time the Mk-21 bomb was being developed, the Mk-15 was also being developed. A missile warhead version was developed for the Navajo, Matador and Regulus missiles (a XW29 version was designed for Snark and Redstone). The XW15 design developed into the XW39 which was eventually deployed on Redstone and Snark missiles.
The XW21 was cancelled in favor of the much smaller and lighter XW-39 in 1957. Though several hundred Mk-21 hydrogen bombs were briefly stockpiled, no W21 warheads were ever constructed.
The W21 is an example of how the rapid development of hydrogen bombs in the mid-1950s created many dead-end designs which were quickly overtaken by smaller, lighter, and more efficient weapons.
References
- Hansen, Chuck, Swords of Armageddon, Sunnyvale, CA, Chucklea Publications, 1995.
- Bullard, John W., History of the Redstone Missile System, Huntsville, AL, Army Missile Command, 1965.
- Neal, J. Allen, The Development of the Navajo Guided Missile, Dayton, OH, Wright Air Development Center, 1956.
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