A company in the United States came to nuclear proportions, literally. The Pentagon had been going around an idea for a while. In a war scenario every time more changing and asymmetricthe permanent bases have stopped making sense to save, for example, atomic weapons. Where to hide such arsenal? The solution is in a container.
Store the unthinkable. Yes, the United States has developed an innovative storage technology to transform the way their nuclear weapons are deployed: a Mobile vault system hidden within standard six -meter containers, capable of protecting atomic pumps or highly sensitive materials even in remote and temporary bases.
The project, led By Sandia National Laboratories Within the energy department, it responds to an urgent request from the National Nuclear Safety Administration (Nsa) and is being executed in collaboration with the Department of Defense. The purpose: to provide American commanders with an unprecedented logistics and tactical capacity to protect strategic assets outside the immediate reach of permanent infrastructure.
Accelerated and double use. The development of the first prototype was carried out in just six months, through a design process that prioritized speed and performance within volumetric and weight restrictions. For this I know They used 3D modelsadditive manufacturing, reusable components and commercial development plates.
The available images They show a container with a reinforced door with double combination lock, although it is presumed that it includes multiple unleashed advanced safety systems. Sandia has experience in this field: he already developed specialized trucks To transport nuclear weapons, equipped with defense mechanisms such as adhesive foam to immobilize intruders, explosive bolts to disable tear gas axes and systems.
Sandia employees make a 3D scan of a container prototype
Containers that hint. Although for obvious reasons the official statement avoids explicitly mentioning nuclear weapons, Sandia has distributed models at 1:14 of these mobile vaults with miniature aftershocks of b61 bombs Clearly identifiable destined to illustrate its functionality before the high controls of the Pentagon, the strategic command and the combat commands.
This type of device could be revolutionary for the projection of the nuclear arsenal, since it would allow flexible displaysdiscreet and fast in areas without fixed infrastructure, in line with current doctrines of Agile Fuat Employment (Ace) of the Air Force and the Expeditional Advanced Base Operations (Eabo) of the Marines body. In both strategies, dispersion, unpredictability and mobility are key to survive in a modern combat environment.
A look at the 1:14 scale model of the mobile vault and the “miniature model” of the B61
The logic of the new B61-13. Plus: doctrinal change also coincides with the production of the new Model B61-13an improved variant of the B61-12 with greater explosive performance. Although the B61-12 already incorporated precision guidance, not all NATO platforms are trained to use that technology, which limits its operation.
The B61-13, due to their greater capacity to attack reinforced and distributed targets, could be better used in mobile and flexible display. Also and As we countB61 are already part of the nuclear arsenal advanced in Europestored in underground fixed vaults in bases such as The RAF Lakenheathin the United Kingdom. The incorporation of are Mobile Vaults It now expands the tactical fan to more unpredictable and scattered environments, reducing the dependence of bases that would be a priority white in a high intensity conflict.
A trailer loaded with B61 test models, as well as B83 nuclear bombs, (the latter are seen at the right end)
“Mobile” advantages and risks. The use of standard containers to hide these vaults has evident advantages Logistics: They can be transported by air, sea or land using existing means.
But that same mobility entails new challenges. Namely: structures offer Less physical protection That a bunker, and any increase in peripheral security measures could give away its content. They pointed to them Twz analysts which will be required, quite possibly, a completely new operational doctrine for use in nuclear deployments, which includes camouflage, dispersion, remote control and active safety measures.
Of the test field to the nuclear deployment. The first prototypes will be evaluated in the exercise Gray Flag 2025where the Department of Defense and Sandia will prove its usefulness in a simulated operational context. In fact, this series of maneuvers has been the advanced armament exhibition scenario, such as long-range air-air missile AIM-174B (version released from airplanes SM-6 missile), still classified.
The presence of nuclear weapons (or their fictional equivalents) in these trials suggests that Mobile Vaults They could quickly integrate into New forms of deterrenceespecially in mixed missions with closely linked conventional and nuclear abilities, as the recent anticipates Pentagon doctrine.
Logistics Revolution As a last point, the initiative It also contemplates the future transition from this technology to the private sector, possibly for its industrial production and use in other areas that require ultraseguro storage.
Be that as it may, its immediate function points to the heart of the current strategic debate: How to maintain the credibility of American nuclear arsenal in a multipolar world, full of mobile threats (as seen in conflicts of Ukraine and Iran), Access denial areas and potential conflicts in remote scenarios.
In that new theater, it will not only be the weapons that move with agility. They will also do it, these mobile vaults apparently nuclear.
Image | Sandia National Laboratories
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