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Washington: The United States said Friday it had selected the design of next-generation nuclear warheads, a step toward the construction of new bombs for the sea-based nuclear arsenal to replace aging Cold War-era stock. The government chose a design by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California over a competing design by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for the project, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in a statement.
The program, named Reliable Replacement Warhead, now will enter a new development phase and be subjected to a cost estimation. After congressional approval, the new warheads were to be produced under the direction of the US Navy.
The design chosen has the advantage of being the most similar to those used in the most recent underground tests, which increases the likelihood it will not have to undergo new testing, NNSA said.
The NNSA insisted, however, that the new nuclear warheads would not increase the US Army stockpile, but only replace current warheads which on average are more than 20 years old and at risk of becoming dangerous.
