The US Department of Defense has said it intends to build a powerful new nuclear bomb that has the propensity to be 24 times more powerful than one of the bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.
According to a DoD press release, the Pentagon is seeking congressional approval and funding to pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, which will be designated the B61-13.
“Today’s announcement is reflective of a changing security environment and growing threats from potential adversaries,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said in the release. “The United States has a responsibility to continue to assess and field the capabilities we need to credibly deter and, if necessary, respond to strategic attacks, and assure our allies.”
The release which had a factsheet included in it said the B61-13 will have a similar yield to the B61-7, which in lieu of a Defense News report, has a maximum yield of 360 kilotons.
The load is said to ne 24 times larger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, which was about a 15 kiloton bomb. The B61-13 would also be about 14 times larger than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, which was 25 kilotons.
The release said if approved, the bomb would replace some of the B61-7s being currently used in the U.S. nuclear stockpile instead of increasing the size of U.S. nuclear stocks.
“The B61-13 represents a reasonable step to manage the challenges of a highly dynamic security environment,” Plumb said. “While it provides us with additional flexibility, production of the B61-13 will not increase the overall number of weapons in our nuclear stockpile.”
