Life Extension Programs

The National Nuclear Security Administration completed the last production unit of the B61-12 life extension program in December, the agency said Tuesday. With production complete for the B61-12 life extension program, the press release said, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will now transition to producing the B61-13 gravity bomb, a new, higher-yield variant of […]

LIVERMORE, Ca. — The W80-4 warhead’s final design reviews are complete and its first production unit is still on track for fiscal year 2027, a senior official at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory official told the Exchange Monitor here Tuesday. “We’re in a phase called production engineering,” Brad Wallin, Livermore’s deputy director for strategic deterrence, […]

LIVERMORE, Ca. — With development of the Sentinel missile largely paused, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory here is doing what “relevant flight testing” it can on the missile’s W87-0 warhead, a senior lab official at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told the Exchange Monitor Tuesday.  “There have not been Sentinel flights associated with it [the […]

LIVERMORE, Ca. — The W80-4 warhead’s final design reviews are complete and its first production unit is still on track for fiscal year 2027, a senior official at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory official told the Exchange Monitor here Tuesday. “We’re in a phase called production engineering,” Brad Wallin, Livermore’s deputy director for strategic deterrence, […]

Development of the nuclear warhead for the Air Force’s next cruise missile so far is not affected by the early parallel development of a sea-launched variant of the warhead for the Navy, the commander of the eighth Air Force said Wednesday. “I have not heard anything like that at all,” Major General Jason Armagost, commander […]

Development of the nuclear warhead for the Air Force’s next cruise missile so far is not affected by the early parallel development of a sea-launched variant of the warhead for the Navy, the commander of the eighth Air Force said Wednesday. “I have not heard anything like that at all,” Major General Jason Armagost, commander […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the U.S. producing more modernized nuclear weapons annually than it has since the end of the Cold War, the government should not “over respond” to rising nuclear threats abroad, the head of National Nuclear Security Administration said here Wednesday. Although she is “very worried about global conditions,” Jill Hruby, administrator of […]

The first boat in the Columbia-class fleet of nuclear-armed submarines will cost several times more than the shipbuilder and Navy estimate, the Government Accountability Office said this week in a new audit report. Those overruns are in addition to delays already disclosed by the Navy in an April shipbuilding report, the Government Accountability Office said. […]

ARLINGTON, VA. — The Northrop Grumman-led Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program likely will get an updated cost and scheduled estimate in 1.5 to two years, an Air Force civilian official said at an industry conference here this week. The service announced in January that Sentinel had shattered projections put together in 2020 for the program’s […]

Prime contractor Northrop Grumman will continue its work on the Air Force’s nuclear-tipped, silo-based LGM-35A Sentinel missile as the service and Pentagon acquisition chief William LaPlante consider how to restructure the program, an Air Force official said Monday. “Work can still continue under the contract that exists today,” Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, the Air Force’s […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the secretaries of energy and defense to brief Congress if either plans an alternative to the W80-4 warhead for a nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile, according to a draft National Defense Authorization Act released Monday. The briefing would have to detail the benefits and cost expectations of any alternative, according […]

The schedule for one of Sentinel’s nuclear warheads will not change until at least the end of the Air Force’s review of the budget-busting missile, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday. The civilian agency will stick to its current schedule for the W87-1 warhead throughout the Air Force’s ongoing Nunn-McCurdy review […]

The schedule for one of Sentinel’s nuclear warheads will not change until at least the end of the Air Force’s review of the budget-busting missile, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday. The civilian agency will stick to its current schedule for the W87-1 warhead throughout the Air Force’s ongoing Nunn-McCurdy review […]

The Kansas City National Security Campus in March produced a proof-of-concept replacement fuse for an Air Force nuclear weapon, the Sandia National Laboratory said last week. The Missouri site cranked out the first production unit for the Mark 21 Replacement Fuze, Sandia said in a press release. After this unit clears several more reviews, the […]

The Kansas City National Security Campus in March produced a proof-of-concept replacement fuse for an Air Force nuclear weapon, the Sandia National Laboratory said last week.  The Missouri site cranked out the first production unit for the Mark 21 Replacement Fuze, Sandia said in a press release. After this unit clears several more reviews, the […]

WASHINGTON — U.S. Strategic Command may accelerate and increase its buys of Raytheon-made AGM-181 Long Range Standoff Weapon cruise missiles beyond the 1,087 now planned, commander Gen. Anthony Cotton said here on Feb. 2. Asked if the command was examining those options, given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s posturing about using low-yield nuclear weapons after his […]

Sometime between October and December, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s programs to refurbish its B61 bombs and W88 warheads reached the halfway mark, an agency spokesperson said Monday. Production of the B61-12 Life Extension Program and W88 Alt 370 reached the halfway mark, with at least 50% of the required weapons produced and delivered to […]

Some time between October and December, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s programs to refurbish its B61 bombs and W88 warheads reached the halfway mark, an agency spokesperson said Monday. Production of the B61-12 Life Extension Program and W88 Alt 370 reached the halfway mark, with at least 50% of the required weapons produced and delivered […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration last month announced that production of the B61-12 Life Extension Program and W88 Alt 370 have met the halfway mark.  Led by Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) at the Pantex Site in Texas, the program has churned out half of the necessary rehabbed nuclear weapons needed to arm Air Force bombers […]

Staffing at the Kansas City National Security Campus can’t match its current workload and may not meet the demands of the next series of nuclear weapons life extensions, according to a recent report.  The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Kansas City site, managed for the agency by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, makes the non-nuclear […]

Staffing at the Kansas City National Security Campus can’t match its current workload and may not meet the demands of the next series of nuclear weapons life extensions, according to a recent report.  The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Kansas City site, managed for the agency by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, makes the non-nuclear […]

The U.S. military will develop a new, higher-yield variant of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb designed for delivery by modern aircraft, the Pentagon announced on Oct. 27. Designated the B61-13, the new bomb will be suited for use against hardened and large-area military targets, the Defense Department said in a statement. Congressional approval and funding […]

Deliveries of the B61-12 nuclear bomb that eventually will be carried by the Air Force F-35A Joint Strike Fighter are underway, the National Nuclear Security Administration told Exchange Monitor. The Nuclear Weapons Council authorized B61-12 Life Extension Program entry into Phase 6.6, which marks full rate production, in June 2022, an NNSA spokesperson said in […]

A federal employee at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s W88 Alteration 370 Federal Program Office, whose computer access was restricted, used a subcontractor’s email for five years to bypass those restrictions, according to a new watchdog report.  The employee’s National Nuclear Security Administration building access also was restricted “due to a formal inquiry by a […]

A federal employee at the National Nuclear Security Administration’s W88 Alteration 370 Federal Program Office, whose computer access was restricted, used a subcontractor’s email for five years to bypass those restrictions, according to a new watchdog report.  The employee’s National Nuclear Security Administration building access also was restricted “due to a formal inquiry by a […]

Federal officials did not inappropriately block contractors from investigating concerns about a program to refurbish one of the Navy’s two nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy’s inspector general wrote in a recent report. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upgrading the W88, which tips submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and entered service in 1988, for […]

Federal officials did not inappropriately block contractors from investigating concerns about a program to refurbish one of the Navy’s two nuclear weapons, the Department of Energy’s inspector general wrote in a recent report. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is upgrading the W88, which tips submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and entered service in 1988, for […]

The W87-1 warhead modification program recently moved into development engineering, also called Phase 6.3, following approval from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Defense and the Nuclear Weapons Council.  During this phase of the nuclear weapons lifecycle process, NNSA will continue to work closely with the Defense Department to conduct experiments, tests and […]

The W87-1 warhead modification program recently moved into development engineering, also called Phase 6.3, following approval from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Defense and the Nuclear Weapons Council.  During this phase of the nuclear weapons lifecycle process, NNSA will continue to work closely with the Defense Department to conduct experiments, tests and […]

The House version of the 2024 defense authorization act includes funding to develop a nuclear-tipped seal-launched cruise missile, and the program will make it into law despite the White House’s desire to kill it, according to Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.). Wittman, who is vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, chair of the tactical […]