Originally published ECAF Nominee Meink Pledges Support for Sentinel ICBM on by https://globalsecurityreview.com/b-21-raiders-first-flight-what-we-learned/ at Global Security Review
US starts producing nuclear warhead ’24 times more powerful than Hiroshima bomb’
By: Chris Young for Interesting Engineering
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has revealed the US’ newest nuclear weapon. — The B61-13 variable-yield gravity bomb is going into full production seven months ahead of schedule. According to an SNL press statement, “the B61-13 program used innovative program planning that resulted in projected delivery seven months earlier than expected, a more than 25% decrease in overall time to first production unit.” The new weapon will play a key role in the US efforts to modernize its nuclear deterrent amid rising global tensions.
B61-13: The US’ newest nuclear warhead
Though the number of nuclear weapons has dramatically declined since the end of the Cold War, the US and Russia still have roughly 5,000 nuclear warheads each in their arsenals. In recent years, China has dramatically increased its nuclear deterrence. With the ongoing war in Ukraine and President Trump’s antagonistic approach to foreign policy, tensions are sky-high. In 2023, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was tasked with building a new nuclear gravity bomb called the B61-13. The term gravity bomb simply refers to a weapon that is dropped from a plane and is not self-propelled.
Originally published ECAF Nominee Meink Pledges Support for Sentinel ICBM on by https://globalsecurityreview.com/b-21-raiders-first-flight-what-we-learned/ at Global Security Review
Originally published Global Security Review
