Explosion - Museum of Naval Firepower

Speaker: Kate Pyne, AWE Nuclear Historian

“An introduction to the Royal Navy’s air-delivered tactical nuclear weapon system. This talk, by AWE’s very own Kate Pyne, will look at how the 600lb boosted fission weapon was developed".

Tickets are FREE although advance booking is recommended.

The story of the WE177 bomb began in 1959 with the need to consider a replacement for the ‘Red Beard’ bomb about to enter Service in 1960.  At that time, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment was coming to terms with the nature of its new collaborative arrangements with the American weapon laboratories following the 1958 Bilateral Agreement.  The need to make as much use as possible of American information dominated the project’s early years in the selection and development process of a suitable warhead.  In fact three different warheads were eventually developed for the three variants of the bomb.

A major factor in the WE177 story was the part played by the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough as a design authority for the various defence contractors on the weapon itself.  This had to be very robust to survive the rigours of lay-down after release at high speed from the delivery aircraft.  WE177 was cleared for use by a number of aircraft and helicopters and as far as possible the lecture concentrates on the Royal Navy aspects.

After the end of the Cold War, all WE177s were taken out of Service.