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The conventional explosives in the warhead were packed tightly around the plutonium core in a spherical cover like a thick skin. It was segmented like a soccer ball, with detonators precisely placed in each segment of the explosives cover, to ignite in unison. This sphere of plastic explosives was designed in perfect balance for a powerful implosion, intended to compress the powdered plutonium core into a highly dense ball of fissionable material. The triggered compression was supposed to occur just as the warhead was delivered over its target.
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Kenneth Sewell (Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S.)