W78 warhead
E442909
The W78 warhead is an American MIRV-capable thermonuclear warhead designed for deployment on intercontinental ballistic missiles.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| W78 warhead canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4407895 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: W78 warhead Context triple: [U.S. thermonuclear weapons program, developedWeapon, W78 warhead]
-
A.
W47 warhead
The W47 warhead was a compact American thermonuclear warhead designed primarily for deployment on Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missiles during the Cold War.
-
B.
W76 thermonuclear warhead
The W76 thermonuclear warhead is a U.S. Navy submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead designed for strategic nuclear deterrence, featuring a compact design and variable-yield capabilities.
-
C.
W88 thermonuclear warhead
The W88 thermonuclear warhead is a compact, high-yield U.S. nuclear warhead designed for deployment on submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
-
D.
BLU-109 bomb
The BLU-109 bomb is a U.S.-designed hardened-penetrator warhead used to destroy reinforced or deeply buried targets, often integrated into precision-guided munition systems.
-
E.
B41 nuclear bomb
The B41 nuclear bomb was a high-yield, Cold War–era American thermonuclear gravity bomb and one of the most powerful nuclear weapons ever deployed by the United States.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: W78 warhead Target entity description: The W78 warhead is an American MIRV-capable thermonuclear warhead designed for deployment on intercontinental ballistic missiles.
-
A.
W47 warhead
The W47 warhead was a compact American thermonuclear warhead designed primarily for deployment on Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missiles during the Cold War.
-
B.
W76 thermonuclear warhead
The W76 thermonuclear warhead is a U.S. Navy submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead designed for strategic nuclear deterrence, featuring a compact design and variable-yield capabilities.
-
C.
W88 thermonuclear warhead
The W88 thermonuclear warhead is a compact, high-yield U.S. nuclear warhead designed for deployment on submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
-
D.
BLU-109 bomb
The BLU-109 bomb is a U.S.-designed hardened-penetrator warhead used to destroy reinforced or deeply buried targets, often integrated into precision-guided munition systems.
-
E.
B41 nuclear bomb
The B41 nuclear bomb was a high-yield, Cold War–era American thermonuclear gravity bomb and one of the most powerful nuclear weapons ever deployed by the United States.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
nuclear weapon
ⓘ
thermonuclear warhead ⓘ |
| associatedProgram | Minuteman III modernization ⓘ |
| associatedWithBranch | United States Strategic Command NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| belongsToNuclearPosture | U.S. strategic nuclear posture ⓘ |
| classification | classified design details ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| deliverySystem | ballistic missile ⓘ |
| deployedOn | Minuteman III MIRV bus NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| deploymentEnvironment | silo-based ICBM ⓘ |
| deploymentMode | multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles ⓘ |
| deploymentPlatformType | land-based ICBM ⓘ |
| designedDuring | 1970s ⓘ |
| designedForUseOn |
LGM-30G Minuteman III
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
intercontinental ballistic missile ⓘ |
| designedToCounter | hardened targets ⓘ |
| designer | Los Alamos National Laboratory NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| era | Cold War ⓘ |
| guidanceDependentOn | host missile guidance system ⓘ |
| isPartOf |
U.S. nuclear arsenal
ⓘ
United States strategic nuclear forces NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| MIRVCapable | true ⓘ |
| nuclearExplosiveType | boosted primary with thermonuclear secondary ⓘ |
| nuclearWeaponCategory | MIRVed ICBM warhead ⓘ |
| nuclearWeaponDesign | two-stage thermonuclear ⓘ |
| operator | Air Force Global Strike Command NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| purpose | strategic strike ⓘ |
| rangeClassOfCarrier | intercontinental ⓘ |
| role |
counterforce capability
ⓘ
strategic deterrent ⓘ |
| safetyFeatures | enhanced safety compared to earlier warheads ⓘ |
| serviceEntryDecade | 1970s ⓘ |
| serviceEntryPeriod | late 1970s ⓘ |
| status | in service ⓘ |
| strategicUse | long-range nuclear strike ⓘ |
| successorCandidate |
W87 warhead
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
W87-1 warhead NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| technologyBase | thermonuclear fusion-fission design ⓘ |
| treatyRelevance |
subject to New START counting rules
ⓘ
subject to START limitations ⓘ |
| usedBy | United States Air Force ⓘ |
| usedIn | U.S. nuclear triad land leg ⓘ |
| usedInDoctrine |
flexible response
ⓘ
mutually assured destruction ⓘ |
| warheadFamily | U.S. W-series nuclear warheads ⓘ |
| warheadType | thermonuclear ⓘ |
| yieldType | variable yield ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: W78 warhead Description of subject: The W78 warhead is an American MIRV-capable thermonuclear warhead designed for deployment on intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.