October 2023 to May 2025. That is the time it has taken USA in developing its new gravity nuclear bomb, the B61-13and produce the first unit. Chris WrightSecretary of Energy, has confirmed Monday that the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) has made the first of the B61-13 that will equip the B-2 bombers almost a year earlier than initially planned, when the Joe Biden administration announced it. The Nsa He affirmed that Production began in March and, less than two months later, the last nuclear bomb of the United States is already a reality.
Developed in coordination with the US Air Force.the weapon was assembled in the plant Pantex In yellow, Texas. ‘The speed of this achievement reflects both the ingenuity of our nuclear infrastructure and the urgency of the moment. The modernization of American nuclear arsenal is a pillar of our peace strategy through force, ‘said Wright, for whom the B61-13 represents A clear signal of response capacity for both allies and adversariesin a statement.
Nsa you have completed the First Production Unit of The B61-13 Nuclear Gravity Bomb @Pantexplant. This is a Major Accomplishment for Stockpile Modernization. Thanks to the Entire Nsa Team Who Worked To Achievepic.twitter.com/y4etedebz6
– NNSA (@nnsanews) May 19, 2025
The B61-13 is the last of the B61series of nuclear bombs started in the 60s and that have constituted the main non -guided thermonuclear weapon of the United States Army. It was designed to be flexible and its previous versions have been deployed on various platforms over the decades, from fighters to bombers. However, B61-13 will be used exclusively to strategic bombers such as B-2 Spirit And, predictably, the future B-21 Raideroperating from bases in the continental territory of the United States.
The B61-13 is one of the seven active programs for modernization of eyelets that the NSA manages. Its development is based directly on that of the B61-12, whose production ended only five months ago. The new version retains The improvements in security, protection and precision guidance introduced with the B61-12according to The War Zone, but with a key difference: its power is designed for penetrate and destroy fortified or large military objectives, such as command centers or deeply buried facilities.
To advance both to its own calendar, NSA has taken advantage of decades of design, development and validation of the B61 family. NSA engineers They suppressed certain stages of verificationknown as ‘design doors’, to be able to Start the first evidence just three months after the authorization of the Congress.
The B61 family includes variants such as tactical nuclear pumps B61-3 and B61-4 and the strategic ones B61-7 and B61-11. The B61-12, a guided version with configurable low-to medium and maximum performance of 50 kilotons, replaced both older tactical and strategic pumps.
B61-13 has a variable performance of Between 10 and 360 kilotons. In its maximum power, it is 24 times more destructive than Little Boy (15 kilotons, launched in Hiroshima in the United States on August 6, 1945) and 14 times more than fat man (25 kilotons, released in Nagasaki three days later).