DOE NNSA Begins Upgrading B61 Nuclear Bombs

The United States has begun work to upgrade the B61 gravity bomb family under a life extension programme for the ageing nuclear weapon.

The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the US Department of Energy (DoE), oversees nuclear modernisation and has forecast the overall programme could cost around USD8.1 billion through 2024.

Frank Klotz, under-secretary for nuclear security and the NNSA administrator, called the B61-12 life extension element of the programme "key for the NNSA" over the next decade, and noted that the project is now in an engineering and development phase with successful integration trials having been conducted so far on the F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft.

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