77" Oi.her warhead design improvements have concerned weapon safety, reliability,versatility and hard.ening against adverse environments. Safety neasures aim at ninirnizing both the risk of accidents in handling the veapon and the possibility of unauthorized use. The weapon may includ.e " for instance, a device vhich can be a-rflcd only upon receipt of a par-ricular, cod.ed radio signa.L" Reliability may be enlianced in many ways, from the chojce of special materjals to prevent deterioration of weapon components, to the particular designs needed to withstand the tremendous accelerations in a gun tube. Versatility could. be enhanced by oesigning a uarhead in such a way that different yields can be selected easily" 78. There i6 also an economic aspect of the technical developnent of warheads,lf steps are Laken to ensure the longest possible l-ifetime of a varhead, costly maintenance procedures or replacenents can be postponed or perhaps abandoned. 'iJhere large numbers of weapons are involved " the associated maintenance costs are probably considerable. 'f9. Lov-yield weapons around. or below 1 kt. seen to have existed. for a long tirnein the United States arsenal- and to be d-ep1oyed, for instance" in Europe, However, there exists the possibility of developing and deploying nuclear \reaponsltith extremely 1ow yields " dovn to a few tons equivalent of high explosive" S.rrch "mini-nukes" could be delivered. with sufficient accuracy to destroy snall targets, They would, however, have no apparent benefit in reduced. cost or a higher Frobabil,ity of destroying an intended. target; they would be used rather to reducethe destruction from blast in the surround.ings of the target. The limited rad.iusfor materia]- danage raised the question of the possible "convent iona"li zat ion " ofthe mini-nukes " i"e" whether they couJ-d be used without risk for furtherescalation. After some international debate" hovever, the USSR, the United
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the development and characteristics of nuclear warheads, focusing on their safety, reliability, versatility, and hardness. It also touches on the economic aspect of maintaining and replacing warheads. The text does not mention any specific industries, natural resources, or environmental concerns.

**Category**
Science and Technology, Defense