Washington. October 19. INTERFAX - The United States has completed the development of a new guided nuclear bomb B61-12 and will soon begin their full-scale production, follows from the data of the Federation of American Scientists.
A total of 480 such bombs will be manufactured. In particular, they will have to replace the outdated version of the B61, 100 units of which are stationed at six air bases in Europe and Turkey.
The placement is planned to begin at the end of 2023 or in 2024.
The B61-12 aerial bomb will have the same power as the previous model - 0.3, 1.5, 10 or 50 kilotons. The peculiarity of the new aerial bomb is the tail. It makes the bomb controllable and more accurate, which makes it possible not to lower it with a parachute, but to drop a charge from an airplane flying at high altitude, after which the bomb autonomously plans towards the target for many kilometers, if necessary, "steering" to it.
It is planned that the preparation of units that will receive new weapons will begin in early 2023.
According to the Federation of American Scientists, currently 15 nuclear bombs are placed at the air bases in Buchel in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), Klein-Brogel (Belgium), Volkel (Netherlands) and Gedi (Italy) and 20 bombs at the air bases Aviano (Italy) and Incirlik (Turkey). All storage facilities are under the control of the US military.
