Washington, DC [US], November 16 (ANI): The United States has successfully completed a series of critical stockpile flight tests of its B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb carried by the stealth F-35A fighter jet, the US Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories announced on Thursday.
According to the laboratory, the tests were conducted from August 19 to August 21 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, with support from Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Inert units of the B61-12 were released from the F-35A aircraft, confirming the end-to-end performance of the aircraft, aircrew, and weapon under operational conditions.
The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), working with Sandia National Laboratories, described the trials as the only B61-12 stockpile flight tests using joint test assemblies on the F-35 platform this year. The tests mark a major step in evaluating the operational readiness of both the weapon and its delivery platform.
The B61-12, part of the US nuclear arsenal for decades, recently underwent a multiyear life extension program completed by NNSA in late 2024, extending the weapon’s service life by at least 20 years. The successful tests confirm the bomb’s compatibility with the F-35, an advanced stealth fighter, and reaffirm its reliability for future nuclear missions.
The life extension program addresses age-related concerns within the B61 stockpile, upgrades encryption algorithms, modernizes safety and use-control features, and ensures compatibility with future aircraft designs, according to Sandia National Laboratories. Full-scale production of the refurbished B61-12 began in May and is expected to conclude in 2026.
“These B61-12 F-35A stockpile flight tests and captive carry flight test were the capstone accomplishment of a tremendous amount of planning and effort by those who were involved across not only Sandia, but many other agencies,” said Sandia’s Jeffrey Boyd, surveillance lead for the B61-12 and B61-13. “In addition, these B61-12 stockpile flight tests represent the completion of the most B61-12 flight testing surveillance scope in a year to date and the most in a given year for the foreseeable future.”
The series also included the first-ever thermal preconditioning of a joint test assembly for carriage on the F-35. This process involved testing the bomb under extreme environmental conditions before release to ensure it met standards required for real-world deployment.
An advancement of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb—deployed by the US Air Force and NATO since 1968—the B61-12 is a modified version designed to extend service life by at least two decades. (ANI)
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