The W74 was an experimental American nuclear artillery shell. Responding to a 1969 United States Army request for a replacement for the W48 155 mm artillery shell, the Los Alamos National Laboratory started development of the W74. However, by mid 1973 the program was discontinued without producing a weapon for general production. The primary reasons for the cancellation of the W74 were the obsolete technology used and high cost. The weapon only employed fission, had no improvements in accuracy, and had no capability to be further developed as an "enhanced radiation" (neutron) device; the result was a weapon that did not provide new capabilities, all with a per shell cost of $425,000 (1973).