View source for W74 (nuclear warhead)

{{Short description|Experimental nuclear weapon}}
[[File:W74 and W82 AFAP.jpg|thumb|W74 AFAP (top)]]

The '''W74''' warhead, also known as '''XM517''',<ref>{{Cite report| publisher = Los Alamos National Labs| last = Betty L Perkins| title = Tracing the Origins of the W76: 1966-Spring 1973|docket=LA-14066-H| date = 2003-11-03|page=V-41|ref={{harvid|Tracing the Origins of the W76: 1966-Spring 1973}}|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Betty_L_Perkins_2003_Tracing_the_Origins_of_the_W76.pdf|access-date=18 November 2022}}</ref> was an American nuclear [[artillery shell]] that was cancelled before production.

Responding to a 1969 [[United States Army]] request for a replacement for the [[W48]] 155&nbsp;mm artillery shell, the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] started development of the W74.  However, by mid 1973 the program was discontinued without producing a weapon for general production.  The primary reasons for the cancellation of the W74 were the obsolete technology used and high cost.  The weapon only employed [[Nuclear fission|fission]], had no improvements in accuracy, and had no capability to be further developed as an [[Neutron bomb|"enhanced radiation" (neutron)]] device; the result was a weapon that did not provide new capabilities, all with a per shell cost of $425,000 (1973).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=safduT80AHMC&dq=W74+warhead&pg=PA93 Schwartz, Stephen I. ''Atomic audit: the costs and consequences of U.S. nuclear weapons since 1940''. Brookings Institution Press, 1998. p 93.]</ref>

==W75==
The W75 warhead, also known as the '''XM673''',<ref>{{Cite conference| publisher = Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)| last = Department 1210| title = Military Liaison Department (1210) Activities-- FY 1975| access-date = 2024-06-10| date = 1975-10-01| url = https://www.osti.gov/opennet/detail?osti-id=16340779}}</ref> was the {{convert|8|inch|adj=on}} equivalent of the W74. It was viewed by many as being an obsolete system, expensive to deploy and not worth pursuing. Development was started in 1973 at the [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory|Livermore Lab]] and terminated two years later.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
<!-- <ref name=hansen-swords> -->* Hansen, Chuck, "[http://www.uscoldwar.com/ Swords of Armageddon]: U.S. Nuclear Weapons Development since 1945" (CD-ROM & download available). PDF-2.67&nbsp;Mb. 2,600 pages, Sunnyvale, California, Chucklea Publications, 1995, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-9791915-0-3}} (2nd Ed.)

{{United States nuclear devices}}

[[Category:Nuclear warheads of the United States]]
[[Category:Linear implosion nuclear weapons]]
[[Category:Obsolete technologies]]


{{nuclear-weapon-stub}}