Nuclear weapons are categorized into four stages: cannon-type fission bombs, implosive-type fission bombs, fusion bombs, and MIRV delivered nuclear weapons. The first nuclear weapon was developed in the US in 1939-1945, and the gun construction was used to hurl uranium units at each other. Implosion nuclear weapons improve the efficiency of cannon weapons by surrounding the uranium with a sphere of explosive lenses. The fusion bomb fuses light elements together and releases the excess energy in the explosion. MIRV delivery is the method of delivery that a potential enemy would be unable to counter.
While there are no official definitions of the different generations of nuclear weapons, historians and arms control analysts often recognize four general categories, each representing a substantial technological advance over the last. Nations developing nuclear weapons tend to develop each stage in turn and rarely skip stages, except occasionally the first one. These stages are 1) cannon-type fission bombs, 2) implosive-type fission bombs, 3) fusion bombs, and 4) MIRV (Independent Target Multiple Reentry Vehicle) delivered nuclear weapons. Note how there is no unified organizing principle for this scheme; the distinction between the first and second is based on the method of detonation, the second and third for the type of bomb and the third and fourth for the delivery system used.
First generation nuclear weapons were initially developed in the United States in 1939-1945 under the auspices of the top secret Manhattan Project. The gun construction of the bomb means that its working principle is one piece of enriched uranium hurled at another like a cannon. When the two uranium units combine, they reach critical mass and start a nuclear chain reaction. The result is a nuclear explosion, like the ones that killed 140,000 people during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II.
Implosion nuclear weapons improve the efficiency of cannon weapons by surrounding the uranium with a sphere of explosive lenses, designed to direct their energy inward and compact the uranium. The result is that more of the uranium is consumed in the chain reaction instead of being dispersed without fission, resulting in a higher yield. Implosion-type nuclear weapons were developed by the United States shortly after the first pistol-type nuclear weapons. The nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki just three days after the bombing of Hiroshima was based on the implosion-type design, which allowed it to be more compact and lighter.
Despite incremental improvements on fission weapons, such as using a small fusion reaction to increase yield, the next big step in destroying nuclear weapons is achieved by the fusion bomb or hydrogen bomb. Instead of splitting (breaking apart) uranium or plutonium nuclei, the fusion bomb fuses light elements (hydrogen) together and releases the excess energy in the explosion. This is the same process that powers the sun. Most modern nuclear weapons are of the fusion type, as the yields obtained are much higher than the best fission weapons.
After numerous fusion bombs were built, there were no more steps left to increase the yield of these weapons, so attention shifted to developing methods of delivery that a potential enemy would be unable to counter. This led to the development of MIRV delivery, whereby a nuclear tipped ballistic missile is launched out of the atmosphere, after which it releases 6-8 independently targeted reentry vehicles to rain down on adjacent targets. Because these nuclear-tipped reentry vehicles are traveling at extreme speeds, around Mach 23, jamming or deflecting them is essentially impossible with current technologies.
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