NNSA Completes Assembly of First B61-13 Nuclear Gravity Bomb Ahead of Schedule
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has completed the assembly of the first B61-13 gravity bomb, the latest modification to the B61 series. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced this on 19 May during his visit to the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.
The first unit was completed one year ahead of the planned schedule and less than two years after the program was officially announced, which makes B61-13 one of the most rapidly developed and fielded weapons since the Cold War.
Multiple years of B61 design and qualification data gave NNSA’s program managers and engineers from the national laboratories and production plants confidence that they could accept calculated risks to speed production. By optimizing or in some cases combining the stages of the rigorous reviews conducted at each step of design process, engineers were able to commence production far sooner than a standard schedule would allow. This allowed B61-13 hardware “test builds” to be manufactured just three months after the program received authorization and appropriation from Congress.
B61-13 is one of the seven ongoing warhead modernization programs NNSA is executing. The new modification involved the use of proven production capabilities that supported the B61-12, which completed its last production unit just five months ago. B61-13 has the same modern safety, security and accuracy features as the B61-12, but features a yield oriented to the defeat of certain harder and large-area military targets.
Despite other warheads of B61 series can be delivered by a broad range of fighter and bomber aircraft, B61-13 will only be certified for delivery by strategic bomber aircraft and deployed from bases in the continental United States.