The US Department of Energy said Sandia laboratories had successfully tested the B61-12 tactical nuclear bomb without warheads in August 2025.
The tests took place at a testing site in Nevada and lasted for three days, in coordination with the National Nuclear Security Administration. The F-35 generation fighter jet is used to carry and drop bombs with simulated warheads. The agency also announced that it has completed a 20-year extension of the life cycle of this type of bomb.
The B61-12 bomb, the version considered the new master card in the US nuclear arsenal along with the existing B61 series, has long been approved by the Pentagon for development. The production of the B61-12 is part of a nuclear weapons modernization program that was expected to cost about $1 trillion at the time of initial announcement. This is the first guided nuclear bomb in the US and is also considered the most expensive, with an estimated cost of about 11 billion USD for 400.
According to the technical description, the B61-12 weighs about 350kg, carries a 50 kiloton nuclear warhead and is integrated with a GPS guidance system and a laser beam at the nose. This type of bomb can be dropped from fighter jets such as the F-15, F-16 or F-35. When separated from the aircraft, it uses a rear wing and rotating rocket engine to adjust the landing direction, allowing it to hit a target within a range of approximately 30m.
In terms of destructive capability, the B61-12 is not as powerful as the B83 bomb with a maximum capacity of 1,200 kiloton. However, the power of B61-12 lies in its flexibility and ability to adjust power. It can lower the maximum capacity depending on the task. The combination of high precision and flexible energy makes the B61-12 a bomb capable of being widely deployed in the US arsenal. Experts say that this possibility makes the B61-12 one of the most notable nuclear weapons Washington possesses.
