Red Snow
Red Snow was a British thermonuclear weapon, based on the US W28 (then called Mark 28) design used in the B28 thermonuclear bomb and AGM-28 Hound Dog missile. The US W28 had yields of 70, and while Red Snow yields are still classified, declassified British documents indicate the existence of "kiloton Red Snow" and "megaton Red Snow" variants of the weapon, suggesting similar yield options, while other sources have suggested a yield of approximately 1 MtTNT.
Red Snow
- Field
- thermonuclear weapon
- Region
- United Kingdom
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Documentary summary
Red Snow was a British thermonuclear weapon, based on the US W28 (then called Mark 28) design used in the B28 thermonuclear bomb and AGM-28 Hound Dog missile. The US W28 had yields of 70, and while Red Snow yields are still classified, declassified British documents indicate the existence of "kiloton Red Snow" and "megaton Red Snow" variants of the weapon, suggesting similar yield options, while other sources have suggested a yield of approximately 1 MtTNT.
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wikidata · Q4383764 · wikipedia · Red Snow
In this article
Development
Development
The Red Snow warhead was developed after a September 1958 decision to adopt the US warhead for British use, following the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement. It entered service in 1961, remaining in use until 1972, when it was replaced by the WE.177 bomb. Production numbers are classified, but it is believed that fewer than 150 weapons were produced. Red Snow was used as both a free-fall bomb and as the warhead of the Blue Steel missile. In the gravity bomb role, it was fitted into the casing of the Yellow Sun weapon, even though the Red Snow warhead was considerably smaller than that of the original Yellow Sun bomb. The Red Snow physics package was later reduced in size, weight and yield, and fitted with a smaller more modern primary, intended as a Red Beard replacement. Known as Una, this was later reduced in diameter and renamed Ulysses as the physics package intended for the UK warhead on the Skybolt project.
Design
Design
Red Snow used the primary stage Peter, an anglicised version of the US Python device used in the W28. The Peter device contained 2.25 kg of plutonium and 1.4 kg of uranium. The kiloton Red Snow contained 1.6 kg of plutonium, 11 kg of uranium, 0.6 kg of lithium deuteride and 2.49 to of tritium, while in megaton Red Snow all the values stayed the same except the lithium deuteride amount which increased to 16 kg. The device was fitted inside weapon cases from the older Yellow Sun weapons. This may have been to simplify crew retraining, simplify integration of the new weapon to existing platforms, or to hide the radical reduction in weapon size.
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- United Kingdom
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Atomic Weapons Establishment. Yellow Sun MK.2 Enters Service. September 2007.
- 2.National Archive. Defence Committee on Nuclear Requirements 1959–1963. Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. 1. 17 July 1962.
- 3.Sublette, Carey. Complete List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons. Nuclear weapon archive. 12 June 2020.
- 4.UK Atomic Energy Authority. Weapons Department Atomic Warheads Production Committee, Papers & Minutes. 63. 1964.
- 5.Sublette, Carey. History of the British Nuclear Arsenal. Nuclear Weapon Archive. 2002-04-30.
- 6.Blue Steel Nuclear Missile Enters Service, Atomic Weapons Establishment timeline, September 2007
- 7.Nuclear-weapons.info.
- 8.Burnell, Brian. WE.177. Nuclear Weapons: a Guide to British Nuclear Weapon Projects. 2018-04-15.
References
Citations
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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