Workers at Sandia National Labs prep a B61-12 for a safety test. (NNSA)
WASHINGTON — Seventeen years after it began design and development, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has completed work on the B61-12 nuclear warhead, the agency announced today.
The Last Production Unit of the upgraded warhead was completed on Dec. 18, roughly three years after production formally started on America’s updated nuclear gravity bomb. An October 2024 report from the agency [PDF] put the total program cost at around $9 billion.
“Completing the B61-12 on schedule is the latest example of what we’ve been saying for several years now: NNSA is delivering capabilities at the pace and scale needed by our Department of Defense partners and our deterrence requirements,” NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby said in the announcement.
While the Defense Department has oversight on the delivery systems for nuclear weapons, nuclear warhead modernization is run through the NNSA, a semi-independent branch of the Department of Energy.
The B61-12 life-extension program consolidated the older B61-3, -4, -7 and -10 variants while updating with newer technologies. Technically, B61-12 is not a “new” nuclear weapon that increases the stockpile, as the US is taking the warheads from the older bombs and placing them in new housings.
In 2020, the F-15E became the first jet to be certified to carry the B61-12, and in March Breaking Defense first reported that the weapon has been certified on the F-35A. According to the October 2024 report from the NNSA, it has also been certified to fly on the B-2, F-16, and German Air Force PA-200 Tornado jets, and is working towards certification on the Italian Air Force’s Tornados and the US Air Force’s B-21 bomber.
Notably, the agency announcement says that with “production of the B61-12 LEP now complete, NNSA will transition to producing the B61-13 bomb.” The B61-13, announced in October 2023, is designed to have a higher-yield in the range of a 360 kiloton blast, which would represent a major step up from the 50 kiloton B61-12.
A first production unit on the B61-13 is scheduled for fiscal 2026, according to the announcement.
