DOD, NNSA speed production timeline for new nuclear gravity bomb variant

The Defense Department and National Nuclear Security Administration completed the first variant of its new nuclear bomb, according to an announcement today, almost a year ahead of schedule.

The B61-13 gravity bomb -- the newest upgrade to the B61 family of nuclear weapons -- had been announced in October 2023 with this first bomb completed at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, TX.

“Modernizing America’s nuclear stockpile is essential to delivering President Trump’s peace through strength agenda,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. “The remarkable speed of the B61-13’s production is a testament to the ingenuity of our scientists and engineers and the urgency we face to fortify deterrence in a volatile new age."

DOD and NNSA didn’t expect the first B61-13 production unit to be completed until fiscal year 2026.

Manufacture of the B61-13 uses the “proven production capabilities” from the B61-12. The last of those bombs was produced in December as part of the B61-12 Life Extension Program.

With that modification, B61-12s are scheduled to last for at least 20 more years, according to NNSA.

Many of the B61 family of weapons can be used on a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft, but the B61-13 will only be used on strategic bombers deployed from bases in the continental U.S.

NNSA and the Air Force accelerated the schedule for the program by leveraging decades of B61 design and qualification data to accept “calculated risks,” NNSA said in the announcement. Program managers and engineers streamlined and combined some of the reviews conducted at each step in the design process, allowing for production to begin sooner.

“Balancing programmatic risk against the urgency of the deterrence mission showed great creativity and foresight on the part of our program managers and engineers,” said David Hoagland, NNSA's acting deputy administrator for defense programs. “I'm confident many of these practices can be applied to future weapon modernization efforts, with promising implications for their delivery timelines.”