US begins deploying modified nuclear aerial bombs in Europe – NNSA

The US has begun deploying modified B61 nuclear bombs in Europe in the B61-12 version, National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) head Jill Hruby said.

“The new B61-12s are being deployed full-scale to the front lines,” 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 air bombs.

The total number of these air bombs with a new plutonium core, produced at the Y-12 National Security Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is not disclosed.

The B61-12 air bombs, which replaced variants 3, 4, 7 and 10, have a lower yield (0.3-50 kilotons) compared to them. However, it is compensated by a new tail fin, which makes the aerial bomb controllable and more accurate, which allows it not to be dropped with a parachute, but to drop the charge 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 Indliche. They can be used by tactical fighter-bombers F-35A, F-15E, F-16 and Tornado.

However, their main arsenal is located in the continental United States.