Thread by @gbrumfiel

GUYS! I'm going to watch the entire W76-1 LEP celebration from Pantex yesterday and tweet about it in this thread...

First thing I learned: "Pantexan" is a word.

First up, NNSA director Lisa Gordon-Hagerty: W76-1 LEP started in October 1998, with first production unit in Sep of '08. Last unit produced in Dec 2018. So ~20 years end-to-end...

LGH: W76-1 required "significant modifications" to the warhead. The 76-1 extends warhead life by 20+ years. It incorporates nuclear surety enhancements and minimizes certification risks in the absence of testing.

LGH: Facilities had closed and atrophied after the Cold War. We are now undertaking much-needed infrastructure improvements that can make NNSA successful for 5 or more decades. W76-1 LEP is a top production priority of NNSA. Finished ahead of schedule and under budget.

LGH: Next LEPs include the B61-12, W88 Alt370, and W80-4. The 76-1 LEP completion is also going to help support "rapid conversion" to a low-yield SLBM as outlined in the administration's 2018 NPR. (SO MANY ACRONYMS! I KNEW THIS WOULD BE WORTH IT!)

LGH: NNSA has received authorization to convert a small number of 76-1 warheads to low-yield weapons and is "on track to meet DoD requirements."

LGH: It takes our entire nuclear security enterprise to do this. AKA IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO LEP A WARHEAD!

Again, I'm thread-tweeting the W76-1 acceptance ceremony from yesterday because.... Well honestly? I'm not sure why I'm doing this.

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry next up: "I'm glad to be home in Texas!"

Mark it! 34:00 into the tape, Secretary Perry describes the DOE labs as one of America's "Crown Jewels." I don't know exactly when DOE labs became "crown jewels", but they have been for the 20 or so years I've been doing this... Pantex is also a crown jewel, says Perry...

RP is doing his job in this particular situation: singing the praises of DOE. Everything from computing to brain science... Talking about how DOE can change people's lives through better healthcare tools.. not the core mission of Pantex exactly...

At 44:00 in, we get a video telling the story of the 76-1...

Pantex at work! That looks like a training model of a... W76 RV I guess? @nukestrat?

What's this dude doing?

Your typical Trident 2 D5 stock footage...

NNSA is celebrating production of the last unit... though sadly these workers only get to pose with a training dummy for their social media needs...

Love these portraits of workers at Pantex standing in front of their (no doubt carefully reviewed and cleared) workstations.

30:37 NARRATOR VOICE "Today the W76-1 continues to meet all missions and capabilities of the original W76-0 WITH NO NEW MILITARY CAPABILITIES."

Vice Adm. Johnny Wolf talks about the need to recapitalize the triad... The Navy's largest and highest number 1 acquisition program is the Columbia-class submarine. The Columbia-class SSBNs will carry the Navy into the 2080s. He also gives out a few awards...

AH! Interesting. He thanks them for their work which supports the Nuclear Posture Review. "Specifically the 76-2 effort, which heavily leverages what has been done here with the 76-1."

Second reference to low-yield Trident in this celebration...

The Vice Admiral also jokingly asks if they "might sqqquuuueeeze a little aeroshell modifications into their busy work..."

Interestingly, Vice Admiral Wolf and NNSA Director Gordon-Hagerty both mention the UK, who have clearly been involved with the W76-1 LEP. Wolf mentioned that the UK is facing it's on recapitalization SSBN fleet...

And that's kind of it! Lots of big thank-yous from folks like Geoff Beausoleil, NNSA Production Office Manager.... Always good to see another Geoff, out there in the world doing Geoff things.

This concludes my quixotic thread on the W76-1 LEP celebration at Pantex. If you feel like watching it for yourself, it lives here! facebook.com/NNSANews/video…

Oh wait! P.S.! There's a W76 commemorative coin! Hey @PantexPlant are those for sale at the gift shop?