| USAF Nuclear Weapons Specialist Home Page Career Field History |
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| Job Description- Inspects, assembles, and tests componets of nuclear weapons, missiles, rockets, and reentry systems. Performs receipt, operational, and shipping inspections on nuclear warhead, bomb, missile, rocket, and reentry system components. Assembles major components to nuclear wearheads. Uses specialised test equipment to determine operational status of nuclear weapons and components. Stores and handles nuclear weapons and components. Performs on-base movement of nuclear weapons and weapon components. Operates motorized and nonmotorized equipment to transport and handle nuclear weapons and weapon components. Transfers nuclear weapons to storage pallets or storage equipment. Inspects, maintains, and performs operator maintenance on applicable motorized and nonmotorized equipment,. Inspects clip-in assemblies, nuclear missile pylons, launchers, and racks. Mates and demates nuclear bombs and clip-in assemblies. Mates and demates nuclear missiles to launchers and pylons. Assembles penetration aids to reentry systems. Maintains, repairs, and modifies nuclear weapons and weapon components, Accomplishes time change replacements and nuclear weapon monitoring to keep weapons in operational status. Tests external tester cables using ohmmeter and performs minor repairs. Uses electronic test equipment to troubleshoot and maintain reentry system and penetration aids test sets. Uses block diagrams and trouble shooting guides to isolate defective items on missile, reentry system, and rocket components. (1976) |
| Block 1- Nuclear theory, technical orders, regulations, publications, safety, security, electronics, etc. Block 2- General Procedures (TP-35-51), PAL, T&H gear. Block 3- W25/AIR-2A Genie Block 4- B57 GM , PC, and LLC Block 5- B43 GM and PC Block 6- B43 LLC Block 7- B28FI GM and PC Block 8- W28 LLC Block 9- B61 GM and PC Block 10- B61 LLC Block 11- W69/AGM-69A SRAM Block 12- Clip In's (MHU-29A/C, MHU-20A/C, PWU-6), Bomb Racks, MJ-1 Jammer, etc. (SAC Hanger) Block 13- B53 GM, PC, and LLC (High Bay) Block 13- Reentry Vehicles (High Bay) Block 14- Course Review, Final Exam, Graduation, and PCS. Note- this outline is from memory, if you know the exact course of instruction or have examples of earlier ones, let me know! |
| Career Field History Copyright 2001 by Michael H. Maggelet On September 18, 1947 the U.S. Air Force came into existence. Nuclear weapons such as the Model 1561 Fat Man bomb and it's successor (the Mark 3) and nuclear components were technically under the control of the Atomic Energy Commission. After World War II, the 509th Bomb Wing flying the B-29 Superfortress at Roswell AAF was the only unit capable of delivering nuclear weapons. By the time the USSR detonated a nuclear device on August 29, 1949, the U.S. stockpile was steadily increasing. The military services were acquiring a variety of weapons, necessitating skilled technicians as maintainer's instead of the weapons laboratories. An early Separation Qalification Record for Jack H. Rose, Tech 4, U.S. Army, who assembled the first atomic bombs, shows his background as an Aircraft Armorer (MOS 911) and Machinist (MOS 114) (Children of the Manhattan Project Web Site). According to the declassified document "The History and Custody of Nuclear Weapons", the services started maintaining weapons in 1950 under the direction of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project under AEC supervision. It states "An example of military participation in custodial operations with the Atomic Energy Commission was at Site BAKER, a permanent storage site for stockpiled weapons. There were eleven AEC personnel and approximately 500 military. The military personnel consisted of two assembly teams of 77 technically qualified men each, 140 to 150 additional technical and administrative personnel and approximately 200 security personnel. In addition to training activities and supporting military maneuvers involving atomic weapons, the AFSWP personnel performed surveillance, inspection, maintenance, and conversion." (History, 13). Components in early weapons required frequent testing, since the circuitry for fire sets, radars, and fuzing components were based on vacuum tube technology. A major safety feature of early U.S. nuclear weapons required that nuclear components (capsule) not be fully installed inside the HE sphere during routine operations. The following paragraph on the Mark 3 bomb in Chuck Hansen's book "U.S. Nuclear Weapons, The Secret History" is informative- "The Mark III could be in combat ready status for just a short time. The life span of it's lead acid batteries, once charged and installed was only nine days, during which time they had to be recharged twice (the batteries retained their charge for three days at a time). After nine days, the entire bomb had to be disassembled to remove the chemical batteries, lest they begin to corrode. Another problem was core heating: the large amount of plutonium in the weapon radiated so much energy (from alpha decay) that the pit had to be removed after ten days or it's thermal effects would damage the high explosive charges and detonators. Like battery change, pit replacement also required complete disassembley and reassembly of the bomb, a procedure that took forty to fifty men between 56 and 76 hours to complete." (Hansen, 124). Subsequent weapons such as the Mark 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15, 17, etc. were armed by a process known as in-flight insertion (IFI), where the inner and outer layer's of HE were accessable through a trap door or field break and the nuclear components installed by electro-mechanical methods. The DOE film series "Basic Atomic Weapons" describes early weapons as such- "The Mark 3, more familiarly known as the Fat Man, was our first implosion type atomic weapon. It's prototype was first tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1945, and later a Mk 3 was used operationally against the Japanese city of Nagasaki. An improvement of the Mk 3, the Mk 4, developed after WWII, was our first atomic weapon to be produced on an assembly line basis and to be stockpiled in large numbers. To give better ballistic accuracy, the shape of the case was changed. Provisions were also made so that the nuclear core of active material could be inserted without complete disassembly of the weapon, by the use of a special detachable device. This gave us the capability of in-flight insertion of the active material. The firing system, commonly referred to as the x-unit, and the fuzing system were also improved and mounted on a cartridge to facilitate checking and testing. The Mk 6 looks almost identical to the Mk 4, from which it was developed; but inside the 61"x128" aluminum case, many changes have been made. Below the safing plugs, an easy to remove nose plate permits access to the horn type radar antenna, and allows for simpler and quicker inflight insertion. Redesign of the entrance to the pit, addition of a detonator holding trap door, and coring of the high explosives, makes it possible to slide the outer and inner cores of HE into a rotatable holder, and permits manual IFI to be accomplished in a minimum of time. A single lug at the top of the ballistic case is used to suspend this 8500 lb weapon from the bomb bay of the delivery aircraft, and extending through the skin are the arming wires that operate the pullout switches upon release. This easy to remove cartridge is the electrical and electronic heart of the weapon, readily accessable are the batteries, the radars, and barometric switches of the fuzing system. The gap tubes, and detonator contacts of the x-unit are on the face of the cartridge, and inside the weapon is the detonator distribution system, with it's loading coils to equalize the electrical paths to the detonators. When the cartridge is inserted into the weapon, pressure contact provides the connection between firing system and the terminals of the detonation system. In contrast with the Mk 6, which requires manual insertion of the nuclear material, the Mk 5 has a built in mechanism to perform the insertion of the capsule and the cored high explosives. Thus, by a switch on his infilght control box, the bomb commander of the delivery aircraft can automatically perform a nuclear insertion or extraction at any time. After the cartridge has been checked and installed, the tail section is attached, completing the assembly of this internally carried weapon." The first sealed pit, "wooden bomb" warhead was the W25 for the AIR-2A Genie, fielded in 1957. According to Chuck Hansen, the last open pit weapon fielded by the USAF was the Mk 6 mod 6, retired in 1962. The career field in actuality consisted of three AFSC's, one electrical, one mechanical, and one nuclear. The early AFSC was 461X0 (Nuclear Weapons Technician, Mechanical), trained at Lowry and then at Sandia. AFSC 331X0 nuclear weapons technicians (Electrical) were trained at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, for about 40 weeks of electronic's school, and later attended the specialty school at Sandia Base. The courses were the ABM-56 Assembly Course and the ARM-30 Assembly Course. AFSC 332X0 personnel, of which there were only about a hundred, controlled the nuclear capsules at locations with an AEC rep (the birdcages were stored in a separately controlled AEC igloo). The 332 was responsible for inspecting and cleaning the capsule and birdcage, and performing IFI. Much later, the 332 was absorbed into the 331/463 career field. The 463X0 Mechanical job description from 1 March 1956 (AFM 35-1) reads- 1. SPECIALTY SUMMARY Inspects, disassembles, tests, modifies, assembles, salvages, and stores mechanical components of nuclear weapons and related test equipment; and supervises nuclear weapons mechanical activities. 2. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES a. Inspects, modifies, and assembles mechanical components of nuclear weapons; Modifies bomb cases, fin assemblies, insertion mechanisms, and external warhead fixtures. Inspects detonator cables visually and for ohms resistance by use of special testing equipment. Inspects nuclear pit. Insures cables are attached to proper coils. Installs fuses in nuclear weapons and connects fuse cables, using special nonsparking handtools. Repairs bomb case locking mechanisms, fin assemblies, insertion mechanisms, and access covers. Modernizes nuclear weapons by following applicable technical orders and modernization orders. Removes, inspects for damage, and replaces high explosive charges. Salvages mechanical components of damaged nuclear weapons. b. Supervises nuclear weapons mechanical personnel: Plans and schedules work assignments. Establishes work methods, production controls, and performance standards. Insures availablility of required test equipment, tools, and spare parts. Assigns work to subordinates, reviews completed repairs to insure compliance with technical directives, and evaluates qualifications of assigned nuclear weapons mechanical personnel. Conducts on-the-job training programs in inspection, modification, salvage, and assembly of mechanical components of nuclear weapons. Briefs personnel on importance of security mesures and instructs subordinates in methods and procedures for safeguarding classified documents and equipment. Rotates assignment of mechanical assembly personnel on various components to insure opportunity for full qualification and to improve utility of assigned personnel. Periodically reviews training status to determine level of qualification acheived by individuals and units. 3. SPECIALTY QUALIFICATIONS a. Education: (1) Knowledge of mechanical assembly and disassembly procedures, safety precautions for handling high explosives, use of test equipment, and intepretation of schematic diagrams and blueprints, is mandatory. (2) Knowledge of fusing system functions is desireable. b. Experience. Qualification as Nuclear Weapons Mechanical Specialist is mandatory. In addition, experience in performing or supervising unctions such as receiving, storing, performing storage inspections, modernizing, and preparing mechanical components of nuclear weapons for operation use, is mandatory. c. Training. Completion of a primary management course is desireable. d. Other: (1) Physical profile serial 222221 is desireable for field or base assignment. (2) Normal color vision as determined by the 17-plate AOC test is mandatory. A training record for the 33130 Weapons Fusing System Specialist dated November 5, 1956 shows the course of instruction as- Electricity and Magnetism- 84 hrs Alternating Current- 78 hrs Introduction to Nuclear Weapons- 24 hrs Large Diameter Weapons- 90 hrs Small Diameter Weapons- 90 hrs TN [Thermonuclear]- 60 hrs Warheads- 48 hrs Operating Techniques- 12 hrs Several year's later, the 331 course was modified- Non Academic Training- 30 hrs Fundamentals- 54 hrs Principles of DC- 60 hrs Principles of AC- 60 hrs Vacuum Tubes and Amplication- 60 hrs Radar and Servo Systems- 60 hrs Math & Sinusoidal Waves- 54 hrs Advanced AC Principles- 54 hrs Oscillator Principles & Transistors- 54 hrs Modulation and RF Transmission- 48 hrs Servo and Computer Circuitry- 24 hrs Leave- 60 hrs The 331X0 mechanical side attended the following course- Introduction to Nuclear Weapons- 48 hrs Electronic Device "A" (MC-1A Radar)- 120 hrs T-7 Test Set- 114 hrs MC-3 Radar System- 72 hrs Nuclear Physics- 42 hrs Nuclear Components (11-0-DE)- 42 hrs Mk 7 bomb- 66 hrs Mk 15/39/28 bombs- 60 hrs Warheads (W5 etc)- 42 hrs Operational Techniques- 18 hrs ECC- 6 hrs (special thanks to Dave Nutile for 331X0 course info) Course Duration- 1248 hrs, the course length was subsequently shortened to half with the introduction of the "black box" (major components) and new systems such as the AIR-2A Genie, Clip-In's, Mk43 etc, becoming the basis for the later 463X0 course. In 1956 the AFSC for the 461 special weapons troops became 463X0 (mechanical). The 331's still performed electrical testing of radar and fuzing and firing components. By 1958 the Missile Badge had been approved for those who worked directly on missiles such as the Matador, Mace, Atlas, Titan, and so on. In 1959 a suffix was added to the 463X0 AFSC, "A" for tactical weapons and "B" for strategic weapons. 331's also had shredouts for certain bombs or missiles. In 1960, the entire career field became know as 331X0. In 1962 the AFSC changed back to 463X0. Technology was improving to the point that extensive testing of electrical components was no longer required. After several years, the proposed munition's badge was redesigned into the Aircraft/Munitions Maintenance Badge, approved for wear in 1986. By 1992, the AFSC had changed to 2W2X0. Today, the USAF nuclear weapons career field has about 890 technicians and supervisors. After fifty-five year's, USAF weapons technicians have maintained over 35 warheads and performed tens of thousands of LLC exchanges and retrofits, following in the footsteps of his or her predecessors by providing safe and reliable nuclear weapons. Thanks to Glenn Wines for providing information on early AFSC's and courses, and Jim Oskins for info on AFSC 332X0. |
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| Sandia |
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| Sandia |
| Mk 7 bomb with test gear. To date we've identified the T-128 and the T-7 radar test set. If you can ID the rest, e-mail me at usaf463@yahoo.com. |
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| Course Outline(1980) G3ABR46330 Nuclear Weapons Specialist 714 hours |
| Last Update- 30 April 2003 |
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| Job Description, 1976 |