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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Upgraded gravity bombs are now stationed at military bases in Europe, the head of the U.S.'s nuclear military science agency has said, after it completed an overhaul of the B61-12 nuclear bomb.
Why It Matters
The B61 family of gravity bombs are tactical nuclear weapons, and several iterations are deployed by the U.S. in Europe.
Read More on U.S.
The B61 is the only tactical nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal—the rest are strategic nuclear weapons, which are thought of as the missiles that could level entire cities and threaten major global superpowers.
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What To Know
The nearly three years of war against Russia in Ukraine, China's military buildup, North Korea's extensive nuclear tests and Iran's nuclear program have brought fresh attention to nuclear weapons.
"The idea of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, has become a subject of debate," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in fall 2022, several months after the start of the Ukraine war.
"The new B61-12 gravity bombs are fully forward deployed," Jill Hruby, the administrator for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), said during an address at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
"We have increased NATO's visibility to our nuclear capabilities through visits to our enterprise and other regular engagements," Hruby added.
Forward deployed means military forces are stationed closer to a possible conflict area, able to respond more quickly to threats in a certain region and deter military actions from an enemy.
Recent estimates had put around 100 U.S. B-61 nuclear gravity bombs in Europe. Ukrainian forces are currently fighting the continent's largest land war since World War II after Russian forces invaded in February 2022.
The U.S.'s gravity bombs are based at six NATO facilities across Italy, Germany, Belgium, Turkey and the Netherlands. More than 100 of these bombs also exist but are in storage away from these bases.
The F-35 fighter jet, which is replacing F-16s in many European air forces, has been certified to carry the B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bomb, an upgraded version of the B61.
The NNSA said earlier this month that it had finished refurbishing and extending the life span of its B61-12 bombs, getting another 20 years of use from them.
Who Said What
NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby said: "The new B61-12 gravity bombs are fully forward deployed, and we have increased NATO's visibility to our nuclear capabilities through visits to our enterprise and other regular engagements."
What Happens Next
The federal agency said earlier in January that it would now start producing the B61-13 bomb, and NNSA is expected to make the first of the next-generation bombs in the 2026 fiscal year.
The Pentagon announced the B61-13 in October 2023, saying the new bomb was a necessary tool for the U.S. military in "a rapidly evolving security environment." It will have a higher yield than the B61-12, meaning it is more powerful.
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