nuclear penetrator design

This paper presents a conceptual architecture for a specialized bunker-bustingpenetrator employing an integrated nuclear shaped charge to neutralize deeplyburied, hardened intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos. Aiming totransform the Cold War doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) into adefense-oriented strategy of proactive weapon neutralization, the designaddresses the boundary conditions of traditional kinetic and conventionalchemical impactors. The proposed system features an inverted Teller-Ulamconfiguration: a high-precision plutonium-tritium primary stage generates athermalized, radiation-driven shockwave via highly purified polystyrene. Thisshockwave implodes a highly dense, high-explosive matrix (modeled on thedetonation velocity profile of stabilized CL-20) from the rear. This secondarystage drives the collapse of a concave liner consisting of highly enriched fissilematerial (U-235 or Pu-239), creating a hypervelocity, high-pressure heavymetal jet capable of penetrating several meters of rock and reinforcedconcrete. Upon penetration and localized deceleration within the targetmedium, the injected fissile material accumulates into a supercritical mass,initiating a localized sub-kiloton fission reaction that neutralizes thesubterranean weapons cache while minimizing widespread collateral damage.Technical constraints regarding structural integrity and explosive stabilizationare discussed qualitatively.