The B61 family of nuclear bombs
By Hans M. Kristensen, Robert S. Norris, May 1, 2014
The Obama administration has approved an upgrade to the B61 nuclear bomb that will, through use of a new tail kit assembly, become a guided standoff nuclear bomb. If the upgrade—the 12th modification of the original B61 design—is pursued as planned, the US Air Force will obtain the low-yield, precision-guided nuclear weapon it first sought in the 1990s, despite concerns that it could increase the likelihood of use. The weapon’s overall price tag is expected to exceed $10 billion, with each B61-12 estimated to cost more than the value of its weight in gold.
Read more: The B61 family of nuclear bombs
Issue: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Volume 70 Issue 3
Keywords: B61, gravity bomb, guided standoff bomb, nuclear bomb
Topics: Nuclear Notebook
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Hans M. Kristensen
Kristensen is the director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) in Washington, DC. His work focuses on researching and writing about the status of nuclear weapons and the policies that direct them. Kristensen is a co-author to the world nuclear forces overview in the SIPRI Yearbook (...
Robert S. Norris
Norris is a senior fellow with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC. A former senior research associate with the Natural Resources Defense Council, his principal areas of expertise include writing and research on all aspects of the nuclear weapons programs of the United States, the Soviet Union and Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China, as well as India, Pakistan, and Israel. He is the author of Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, the Manhattan Project’s Indispensable Man&...
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