Tag Archives: B61-12

The fingers of doom, ala Lightning

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The more you look, the spookier it gets.

Two B61-12 JTA’s sit loaded on an F-35 at Hill AFB for a flight test on Aug. 19, 2025. Sandia NL Photo by Craig Fritz

From a recent Sandia National Laboratories presser:

Sandia, in conjunction with NNSA, conducted a series of successful stockpile flight tests at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, with support and aircraft generation from Hill Air Force Base in Utah. The tests, conducted Aug. 19-21, yielded positive results as inert units of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb were successfully carried and dropped by an F-35 aircraft, marking a significant milestone in evaluating the weapon’s performance.

The B61-12 “dial-a-yield” (0.3, 1.5, 10, or 50 kt, with “Little Boy” at Hiroshima being about 15kt by comparison) nuclear gravity bomb, carried in the stealthy bomb bay of the 5th generation F-35 strike fighter, is about as optimal as it gets when you are talking about tactical nukes.

The F-35A has a combat radius of approximately 670 nautical miles when operating “clean” without external drop tanks, while the STOVL F-35B runs 500nm on the same strike profile. Air-to-air refueling can stretch that to almost any desired in-theatre destination.

Besides the obvious USAF/USN use, this combo is soon to be seen in the hands of Allies.

Dutch F-35As took the first step to become “nuke-certified” in 2023, and will use them in NATO’s Dual Capable Aircraft (DCA) nuclear sharing mission. They are already stored at Vokel for use with Dutch F-16s.

Belgium’s first F-35As arrived in-country in October 2025 and will use the aircraft with NATO-supplied B61s at its Kleine Brogel AB.

Italy operates F-35A and F-35B variants, with a plan to eventually have 115 total aircraft after recent procurement announcements. They are a DCA mission nation with NATO B61s at Ghedi AB.

In June, the British MoD announced that it would purchase 12 F-35As and a stockpile of U.S.-held B61-12s for the RAF already held at Lakenheath AB and formally join NATO’s DCA program.

Germany’s Luftwaffe will also buy 35 F-35As to replace its aging Tornado fleet, with the first aircraft expected to be delivered in 2026. Again, with shared B61s already on the menu for the Tornados of TaktLwG 33 at Büchel AB.

Turkey is also a DCA B-61 sharer, stockpiling NATO-controlled weapons at Incirlik Air Base, capable of being carried by Turkish F-16C/Ds in a pinch. If they ever get cleared to join the F-35 program once again, well, that makes a six-pack of Lightning/B-61 users other than those in the U.S..

Flight tests show B61-12 compatible with F-15E Strike Eagle

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Via Sandia National Laboratories:

“Dropped from above 25,000 feet, the mock B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb was in the air for approximately 55 seconds before hitting and embedding in the lakebed, splashing a 40- to 50-foot puff of desert dust from the designated impact area at Sandia National Laboratories’ Tonopah Test Range in Nevada.”

The platform for the tactical nuke? The common F-15E.

More here. 

Everything old is new again in 1960s tactical nukes

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In 1961, Los Alamos National Laboratory started work on a project known then as TX-61 to come up with a 700~ pound tactical nuclear bomb with a yield that could range from 0.3-340 KT of glow in the dark.

Put into production at the Pantex Plant (Zone 11) near Amarillo, Texas in 1968, an estimated 3,155 B61 bombs were completed by the 1970s and, with the steady paring down of Russo-American nuclear stockpiles in the START and SALT treaties as others, the current number of operational devices stands at around 1,200 with only about 200 deployed.

The old school B61 (DOE image)

The old school B61 (DOE image). Seems pretty simple.

Today the B61-3, -4, -7, and -10 series bombs, most of which are stockpiled on U.S. bases abroad such as in Europe and the Pacific, are the oldest items in the American nuclear triad and it is doubtful they could penetrate ultra modern strategic C4I facilities deep underground such as the ones believed to exist in Russia, China, DPRK and Iran, built since the 1990s, which can run over 1,000 feet deep and are protected by granite.

Still, they serve as something of “NATO’s Nukes” giving regional powers such as Italy, Spain, Germany and Turkey the nominal capability to carry an American-owned nuke under extreme circumstances (a B61 can be toted aloft by a Tornado or F-16).

Last week, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) announced they formally authorized the production engineering phase of its B61-12 warhead life extension program (LEP), which will include some capability for deep digging, dial-a-yield warheads, upgraded guidance packages and tail units.

The new B61-12, graphic by engadget

The new B61-12, graphic by engadget

“Reaching this next phase of the B61-12 LEP is a major achievement for NNSA and the exceptionally talented scientists and engineers whose work underpins this vital national security mission,” said NNSA Administrator Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz (Ret.). “Currently, the B61 contains the oldest components in the U.S. arsenal. This LEP will add at least an additional 20 years to the life of the system.”

They expect it to be able to send the B83-1—the last megaton-class weapon in America’s nuclear arsenal— into retirement when the program gets fully fleshed out by 2020.