News / Military

US successfully tests nuclear gravity bomb

Tuesday, 17 November 2015 6:21 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 17 November 2015 6:25 PM ]

A file photo by the National Nuclear Security Administration shows the third flight test of a newly-upgraded a nuclear gravity bomb.

The US has carried out a third flight test of a newly upgraded nuclear free-fall bomb at the Tonopah Test Range in the state of Nevada which it says shows the nation's “continued commitment to security.”

The test of the non-nuclear version of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb was completed by the US Air Force and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on October 20.

The test “provides additional evidence of the nation's continued commitment to our nation's security and that of our allies and partners,” NNSA Deputy Administrator Madelyn Creedon said in a statement Monday.

The first test of the B61-12 took place in July. The test of nuclear gravity bomb, which has been in use since the Cold War, was launched following an $8 billion upgrade.

The launch was the last of three flight tests for the B61-12 Life Extension Program (LEP), which is aimed at repairing or replacing components of nuclear weapons to “ensure the ability to meet military requirements.”

The NNSA states on its website that the LEP program, which was launched in February, allows it to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent without producing new weapons or conducting new underground nuclear tests.

Ninety percent of the world’s nuclear weapons belong to Russia and the US with each country possessing 7,500 and 7,260 warheads, respectively.

The report comes in the wake of the 70th anniversary of the only atomic bombings in world history that were carried out by the United States and destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War, killing more than 200,000 people.

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