The
US Air Force has conducted more than two dozen engineering,
development and guided flight tests of the new B61-12 guided nuclear
gravity bomb, a US Air Force general said May 1.
The
service has "already conducted 26 engineering, development
and guided flight tests," Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein told
Military.com, adding that the program was "doing extremely
well." The new version of the B61 gravity bomb is said to be
more than three times more accurate than its predecessors, according
to the news outlet.
The 12th
version of the B61 bomb, originally designed in 1963, will have a new
capability that its cousins don't: underground penetration so it can
strike fortified command and control centers. Its explosive yield is
estimated at 50 kilotons, or roughly four times the power of the bomb
the US used to destroy the Japanese city of Nagasaki in August 1945.
The B-2
Spirit and eventually the B-2's companion stealth bomber, the
futuristic B-21 Raider, will carry the gravity nuke.
Service
officials are working to integrate the B-61 gravity bomb with the
F-35 Lightning II, as documented in the latest US nuclear posture
review. In 2015, the aircraft flew with a B61-12 to test how it would
vibrate in the aircraft's internal weapons bay.
The
nuclear posture review also calls for modernizing the air-launched
cruise missile and intercontinental ballistic missile components of
the nuclear triad. Right now, the US nuclear triad consists of the
submarine-launched ballistic missiles, strategic bombers — which
carry both gravity bombs and cruise missiles — and land-based
intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The
B-52, F-16 and F-15 are also capable of carrying nuclear payloads,
though it is unclear if the service will put the latest B61-12
nuclear weapon on these older legacy aircraft.
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