The Last W-79 Warhead Dismantled

The Nuclear Security Administration's Pantex facility outside Amarillo, Texas, dismantles the last nuclear artillery shell, the W-79, in the U.S. nuclear stockpile. “This administration is committed to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons world wide,” says Secretary Abraham. “We have completed dismantlement of another class of nuclear weapons—weapons that were a very important deterrent during the Cold War.” NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks adds, “Eliminating the last nuclear artillery warhead marks the end of an era in U.S. defense policy that included ground-launched battlefield nuclear weapons.” The W-79 artillery shell was placed into ser vice in 1981 and has been in dismantlement operations at Pantex since 1998.