US Nuclear Weapons in Europe - Natural Resources Defense Council

U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe • Hans M. Kristensen/Natural Resources Defense Council, 2005
Figure 7:
Weapon Storage Security System Modernization 27
Stockpile Upgrades Made Under Guise of Safety Concerns
Over the past several years, the B61 nuclear weapons deployed in Europe have been
modified and equipped with new capabilities. In 2002, the Sandia National Laboratories
(SNL) completed alterations on all B61-3, -4, and -10 weapons stored in Europe. 28 The
purpose of these alterations was to enhance the reliability, use control, and safety of these
retrofitted weapons (see Table 6). According to the Department of Energy, “These
alterations upgrade components or refurbish or replace aged components so that weapons
will continue to meet Military Characteristics and remain safe and reliable in the
environments defined in the Stockpile-to-Target Sequence.” 29 The projects involved
hundreds of personnel across the SNL complex.
The upgrades included development and deployment of the Code Management System
(CMS) (ALT 339), a project first begun in 1995 to improve command and control of
nuclear weapons. The codes are used in conjunction with Permissive Action Links
(PALs) inside the nuclear weapon to recode, unlock, lock, and manage the weapons,
while ensuring the secrecy and authenticity of launch orders. In total, CMS consists of
fourteen custom products (nine software and five hardware products). The software was
designed at Sandia and contains about 160,000 lines of uncommented computer source
code (260,000 including comments). The hardware was manufactured at the National
Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City Plant and fits in a kit the size of a small
suitcase. 30
The weapon upgrades coincided with delivery of new trainers for use by ground crews in
weapons practice drills. For the European nuclear bases, a total of 54 Type 3 trainers
were required for February 2004 (see Table 7).
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