The US has begun deploying modified B61 nuclear bombs in Europe in the B61-12 version, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Jill Hruby said.
"The new B61-12s are being deployed at the forefronts in full scale," she said at a conference at the Hudson Institute.
According to the NNSA, the US Department of Defense received the final batch of these nuclear bombs in December.
The total number of these aerial bombs with a new plutonium core, which were produced at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was not disclosed.
The B61-12 bombs, which replaced versions 3, 4, 7 and 10, have a lower yield (0.3-50 kilotons). However, it is compensated by the new tail fin, which makes the aerial bomb controllable and more accurate, which allows it not to be dropped with a parachute, but to be dropped from an aircraft flying at high altitude, after which the bomb autonomously plans towards the target for many kilometers, if necessary "tow" to it.
As of 2023, about 100 old variants of tactical bombs B61 - B61-3/-4 were in underground storage at NATO allies' air bases in Europe. 15 nuclear aerial bombs were placed at the air bases in Büchel in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), Kleine-Brogel (Belgium), Volkel (Netherlands) and Gedi (Italy) and 20 bombs at the air bases Aviano (Italy) and Incirlik (Turkey). They can be used by tactical fighter-bombers F-35A, F-15E, F-16 and Tornado.
At the same time, their main arsenal is located on the continental United States.
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