Pentagon accelerating plans of stockpiling B61-12 gravity bombs in Europe, says Report

Pentagon is accelerating its plans of stockpiling the upgraded B61-12 gravity bombs in Europe under its NNSA’s B61-12 Life Extension Plan scheduled to complete by 2025, a diplomatic cable and at least two sources familiar with the development told Politico anonymously. The updated nuclear warheads, which were scheduled for storing and possible deployment in 2024 alongside delivery vehicle modernisation programs, will now arrive this December, the US officials have briefed the North Atlantic Alliance during a closed-door meeting in Brussels held earlier this month. About three-and-a-half meters, the earth-penetrating B61-12 is a variant of the B61 nuclear bomb first developed in 1963. It is the most versatile nuclear warhead in the United States' nuclear arsenal that uses a new tail kit assembly to convert the B61-4 into a 50-kiloton guided standoff nuclear warhead. Bulletin of the atomic scientists estimates that the US has five B61 versions of nuclear bombs in the stockpile— the B61-3, -4, and -10 tactical bombs; the B61-7 strategic bomb; and the B61-11 strategic earth-penetrating bomb. Pentagon has been planning to retire three and convert the B61-4 into the B61-12 to serve all gravity bomb missions on strategic and tactical aircraft. The B61-12 production engineering phase began on June 2016 and the first-ever system qualification test flight was conducted in March 2017 when the nuclear bomb was dropped from the US Air Force’s F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft. Credit: twitter/@am_misfit Modernization of US B61 nuclear weapons underway for years The recent decision of ramping up the upgradation was made due to looming security threats posed by Russia's ongoing offensive in Europe's eastern flank. The B61-12 variant, upgraded by the United States for Europe, would include the tail kit to improve accuracy and will allow variable yield capability, with a yield ranging from 0.3 KT to 170 KT for both strategic and tactical use. The older weapons will be replaced by the newer version at various storage facilities in Europe for potential use by the United States and NATO-allied bombers and fighter jets. They can be loaded onto dual-capable NATO-designated fighters such as the F-35A, the F-18 Super Hornet, or the Eurofighter Typhoon. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told Politico via an email that “while we aren’t going to discuss details of our nuclear arsenal, modernisation of US B61 nuclear weapons has been underway for years." He continued that the "plans to safely and responsibly swap out older weapons for the upgraded B61-12 versions is part of a long-planned and scheduled modernization effort. "It is in no way linked to current events in Ukraine and was not sped up in any way," he iterated. Credit: Twitter/@SprinterMonitor The exact figures for European-deployed stockpiles of the US and NATO aren't declassified. But an estimate by the Arms Control center suggests that there are 100 US-owned nuclear weapons stored in five NATO member states across six bases— Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel Air Base in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi Air Bases in Italy, Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands, and Incirlik in Turkey. These nuclear bombs are not armed or deployed on fighter jets but are stored in WS3 underground vaults in national airbases with the Permissive Action Link (PAL) codes. The Pentagon officials now say that the upgrade of the Nuclear earth-penetrator weapons (EPWs) of the US under the B61 program has been critical in order to modernize the nuclear arsenal of the United States and its allies. The prospect was widely brought up for discussions during the passing of the budget documents as well as public briefings. The geopolitical analysts, though, believe that the US storing modernised nuclear weapons at Europe's bases might stoke tensions and lead to a "dangerous" escalation with Moscow. 'The Russians know..' The talks were held in Brussels during NATO's annual 'Steadfast Noon' exercise involving dozens of fighter jets over north-western Europe that demonstrated nuclear deterrence capabilities. The drills included military forces from at least 14 countries and up to 60 warplanes, including fourth and fifth-generation fighter jets, surveillance, and tanker aircraft, and lasted from October 17 to October 30. Moscow also held nuclear drills dubbed as "Grom" [Thunder] involving nuclear-capable bombers, submarines, and missiles as well as the participation of Russia’s nuclear triad that included the Russian Federation's nuclear submarine of the Pacific Fleet. Expressing worry at the situation, Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, told Politico: “It would be odd to rush it in. They have been saying we don’t respond to this situation with nuclear weapons. I don’t think they want to go down that one.” “My guess is it is aimed more towards NATO than Russia,” Tom Collina, director of policy at the Ploughshares Fund, a disarmament group, reportedly said. “There are [older] B61s already there. The Russians know that," he remarked.

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Pentagon accelerating plans of stockpiling B61-12 gravity bombs in Europe, says Report

The plans to safely and responsibly swap out older weapons for the upgraded B61-12 versions is part of a long-planned and scheduled modernization effort.

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