Missiles are shipped in 3 parts.  The actual missile is installed first.  It's transported out in TEL vehicle.  Next the guidance system (also called a "can", because it looked like a big can) is brought out in a P&E van, then the warhead is brought out in a nuclear convoy as you see in the video.

Well sorry to ruin your day, but that's how we (retired E-7 USAF) transported warheads to and from the missile silo.  What you are thinking of is a DOE courier transport.  Two totally different things.

Ain't that the fuckin' truth!  I got some of my best sleep in those damn things.

Yup. Former nuke puke here.

I'd hate to be the truck driver.

For I seriously doubt you could make a stop at the flying j in the event you need to make a poopie.

Just a few notes:
There's a lot more security than you see in that video
AF convoys are too distinctive and frequent for stealth to be worthwhile, although there are various deception measures that we won't discuss here.  And DOE convoys don't exactly roll light on security either.
Letting a random car cut into your convoy is also considered undesirable.

It's an armored truck, it will buff out.

How do you know that the warhead wasn't in the Hostess Hoho panel truck that passed by four minutes ago?

They look like Bearcats.  Policization of the military?

Like the actual warhead? They're decidedly boring looking.

For Y.12 yes.

For USAF weapons MXS, they roll deep.

 
Oooh. I can see the Teller-Ulam design poking through.




 

ETA: Reading up on the W80, it seems bass-ackwards, with the thermonuclear part in the front. And spherical.

LOL Exactly what came to mind

Cool video.

I would have loved to see that ass chewing

Question for the Nuke Pukes.... and i realize there cant be any direct answers or details, but when they did Maintenance on the Warheads, did they swap out individual MIRVs or Swap the whole Package so the bird was out of service once instead of several times? and if thats still too much to answer.no worries

What MIRVs?

This is like my favorite topic, ever. I study this like normal people learn baseball cards or fishing trivia. I wish I knew more, and I invest way too much time and money in it, but that’s why I can answer some of this stuff. While I don’t know what I don’t know, I was never cleared for or had access to this data.

For all of you claiming shipments are stealth and low key, does this:


qualify as low key? (Don't get all panicky, that's a photo the men in black released themselves).
Those two types of vehicles are part of a typical DoE/NNSA/OST convoy. The transporters stick out too, if you know what to look for.


Probably true. Neither that site nor I know for sure, we all are speculating. The fact of theory of operation has not been declassified by Energy.

It can be smaller, because the secondary is the simpler of the two parts during a weapon detonation. It basically gets squished. The can shape has to contain several subsystems that make the primary part of the weapon safe, and then work when legitimately commanded.

Man, I usually don't feel THIS ignorant.  The part you added about the designs being frozen just means the ones we've already made, not like we haven't kept designing and improving potential new ones, just in case, right?
Don’t feel bad. Nobody really cares about this shit, right down to the people that run them and the people that plan their use.
To clarify, the United States has not had a new nuclear weapon design since late 1989 / early 1990. While leaps and bounds have touched the subsystems that make a nuclear system work, it’s exactly like putting an electronic ignition and fuel system on a 1950’s motor.

What treaty stopped new production?  SALT II is the only one that vaguely rings a bell and I think that was more intercontinental stuff.

On 23 September, 1992, the US conducted their last test under (I think) the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This means full up test. DoE still does teeny testing, where they either use a surrogate, or *just* enough nuclear material to prove stockpile reliability, but it can’t output more than a few pounds of energy for legal purposes.
I think we are bound by the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty to work towards disarmament, and that tacitly means we can’t cook up new designs. Plus, nobody, even today, is gonna certify a nuclear weapon system that hasn’t been popped off in the desert once or twice, ultracomputing be damned.

SALT and its’ ilk is simply a way to pare down our stuff while Russia and China keep theirs. In my opinion, for what its’ worth anyway.


You ain’t just whistling Dixie there, bub. Wow.


The earlier ones were dangerous as fuck.
If you understood how the weapon connector was wired, and the theory of operation of the system, and had access to a few basic tools, you could detonate it in a matter of minutes. That’s part of why the legendary ‘two man rule’ came about.
Current weapons are much, much more closer to the ‘wooden bomb’ concept. Full up units have been shot with various weapons, set ablaze in pools of jet fuel, dropped from various heights. More likely than not, nothing happens. Potentially, the conventional materials in the weapon react. It is designed into them to be very hard to light off unless its’ time to light the fuse, so to speak. Design margins, weaklink/stronglink technology; a lot of thought’s been put into them.

When were you in?
Former 463 as well from 84-94.

It's a moot point now.

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/485611/malmstrom-completes-final-minuteman-iii-configuration.aspx

Thats what I'm in here for. I saw this video somewhere else, and immediately thought "Do nuclear weapons need to be placarded radioactive?"

Anyone know for sure?

Here, lemme help ya out!!

This is a TEL (Transporter-Erector-Launcher?)



This is the can:



The sad dude in the red hat is probably an AF Tech, and I am betting they are in a real silo (as opposed to the one training one).

Once upon a time, where he sat was rare air, and a pic like this would get you put in a room, then they would throw the room away. Now I routinely download them from 20th AF and other official outlets. The guidance unit is the classified item that Clinton basically gave to the Chinese. Really.


Wonder what all those bits and pieces do? Too bad, I do, so, for the one other person who cares, here:


I don’t have a picture of a ‘P&E’ vehicle, unless it looks like a bread van. Something new to go research!

You’ve already seen the carrier for the warhead.

Annnd, this is inside the warhead:


The little cones are the re-entry vehicles. Inside them is one nuclear weapon each.
They are mounted to basically a ‘bus’. The bus is smart; once pushed into the edge of space by the rocket motors, it positions itself in space with little motors, then unlatches a RV, then pushes it towards its’ target. Fascinating to think a million plus parts launch out of a tube, traverse the PLANET, and put a shrub-sized bomb within 200 FEET of anywhere in the world. On demand. 24/7.



Well, you have to keep in mind that there are centers of gravity and other concerns when weapon designing. I think. That’s my guess. The thermonuclear part is probably that sphere shape, based on lots of late nights with a set of rulers and a bunch of old DoE data. The can shape goes first, then eats up the sphere end.

*For budding weapons speculators, there was released many years ago a set of line drawings purported to be cutaways of several Brit nuc systems, which in most cases are directly derived from US systems. If you know how to craft a good google search, they are still out there. Many have dismissed them as bunk, but I remain… tantalized. And skeptical.



A MIRV *is* the warhead. Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle. Originally, they could shoe horn a bunch in there. Then they dropped a classified number and put in something they call PENAIDS, which I think is crap to fool the Bad Guys long enough for one or two RV’s to slip through.

Currently, I think all MMIII’s have one cone inside that warhead. One lonely, sad little Mk. 12 / W88 mod 1. Because politics.

Anyway, every picture, publication, and conversation I've been privy to show them working on the whs in a bay somewhere. I am betting there are too many parts to screw with it dangling a buncha feet in the air, and plus, after the golden socket, AF probably clamped down on doing ANYTHING in the silo past code/recode and can swaps.

Again, I wish I had more people to talk to about this stuff. Its' not like all our enemies already know. In fact, for a fact, at least three people have been caught stealing (successfully) our latest weapon designs. Two were allowed to go home, one to Taiwan, the other to China.

Well, color me stupid. America's roadways are dangerous, I'd rather see them fly the nuke to their destinations.

1999-2001  Out due to injury sustained in former AFSC.

hey!

That was a great article! Confirms my guess. They demated the warhead section, then toted it back to a weapon maintenance / storage area for uncorking.

I did mess up though, I left out the target in MIRV. Independently targetable. In case that doesn't click, in a typical rocket / missile, the tube either goes all the way to the target, or the top part does. In a MIRV, the tube just puts the pointy part into a particular window / corridor, then the pointy part separates and several little parts can go to several places at the same time. Like having five-six missiles in each tube!

My guess:
The defense department has been flirting with the other departments for a long time now, and part of that is obeying DOT regulations when possible. I have seen nuclear weapons that have been marked 'radioactive', but I have never seen a transporter marked with anything besides an explosives placard when the net explosives weight exceeds a certain amount.

And, in twenty five years of OST convoy spotting (I live near a courier base), I've never ever seen placard one on any of the convoy vehicles, much less the one that carries the cargo.

NNSA has planes AND trains. Most go via overland, though. They have an impressive driving record. Extremely low number of accidents.

Have you gotten a visit yet?  Cause you are seriously asking for the man in your life.  Munger wrote of the guy that had the FBI show up for taking pictures of random office buildings.

Some serious OPSECfuckery when Joe Blow knows when and where a convoy will be rolling through and is able to set up on the side of the road in advance to take video.

Do they announce these moves for public safety?

Thanks, was curious to know if we may have worked some of the same places and time. Not a very large career field.


Now back to the original topic.

The DOE couriers are some pretty cool guys, and the equipment was very cool even back in the 80's. You didn't want to impede their progress.

I didn't get the opportunity of working on the big missiles just small ones and the usual assortment of bombs.

They know who I am.

I am like the number three highest filer of FOIA requests to the DOE, DTRA, and DOD on the topic.

I don't bother or chase OST movements, but I like seeing them out and about here. There are also a lot of pics on Flikr, they just don't know what they've photographed.

That dude you're talking about is a former nuke worker / current intentional pain in the ass to the DOE. He coordinates lots of protests and sit ins. I've wanted to go out and do a counterprotest, but couldn't due to the jobs I held at the time.

In the case you're talking about, it wasn't a random office building. They accused him basically of taking pictures of a facility that didn't exist yet, because they want him to quit complaining about DOE spending money, in my opinion.

The JERRV's slutty twin sister.

No.

Hey,

I would like to thank all of you for your service. I know that may ring hollow, but honestly, y'all are the textbook definition of unsung heroes.  I just wish more of the stories could be captured; one day it will all be unclassified, but there won't be anyone left alive to tell them.

Was your tech at Sheppard? I thought I remembered it being somewhere else a number of years before I showed up.

For now.

I'ver been next to that exact same SS-18, even got to push "the button" down in the silo.  Interesting museum.

Nope, tech school was at Lowry, our dorm was directly across from the airman's club, very good times at Lowry.

Thanks, one thing that does surprise me is how much information is actually out there and unclassified. There's been some pretty cool threads over the years that have come up that bring back the good old days.
I would multi-quote but still haven't figured that one out yet.

what is the technical name of those up-armored Ford Superduties?

Party Wagons

Mk-6969696969

Yeah.

"Why can't I video the movement of a critical and vulnerable piece of nuclear weapons logistics?"

Some people are so stupid they should have their nutsack used as a pinata at Special Olympics after parties.

I'm surprised no one has made an "IN" gif yet?

I'm 99% certain I saw that convoy heading north into Minot as we were heading south last Thursday.   One truck (not a Super Duty, one of the armored ones) had a Mk 19 grenade launcher mounted, all the others had what looked to be 240s.   There were two helicopters escorting it.  Quite a sight.  

The convoy we saw had a pair of Huey's - one in close and another a few miles in advance.  

What really happened.

http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=7922b011da3d

Currently reading "Command and Control", nuclear weapons, the Damasacus Accident, and the illusion of safety. By Eric Schlosser. ISBN 978-0-14-312578-5

Lots in common with the OP.

I also recall a book called, maybe, "Broken Arrow" which detailed all known lost/damaged/FUBAR'd nukes up to that time (mid 90's?)

That is a great book.