Life Extension Programs

WASHINGTON — In separate congressional hearings here Tuesday, senior Energy and Defense officials declined to pin down the date at which the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) might start modifying an existing warhead to create the low-yield, submarine-launched weapon sought by the Trump administration. The Pentagon has already requested 2019 funding to start upgrading the Trident […]

Although the Department of Energy has nearly finished the first of four ongoing warhead modernization programs, the U.S. nuclear arsenal is “very close to zero-percent modernized,” the general in charge of the Pentagon’s nuclear forces said Wednesday. “We’re starting down that path,” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said Wednesday in […]

Although the Department of Energy has nearly finished the first of four ongoing warhead modernization programs, the U.S. nuclear arsenal is “very close to zero-percent modernized,” the general in charge of the Pentagon’s nuclear forces said Wednesday. “We’re starting down that path,” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said Wednesday in […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory said Tuesday he is “confident” the Northern New Mexico nuclear weapons site could help create the low-yield nuclear warheads the Donald Trump administration requested in the Nuclear Posture Review released in early February. “Again, I go out on a branch, but I know from […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — To help hash out military requirements for two new low-yield nuclear warheads called for in the Trump administration’s new Nuclear Posture Review, the bi-agency Nuclear Weapons Council is planning a series of road trips to key Department of Energy nuclear weapons labs and production facilities this spring, a senior Pentagon official said here […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) could turn the existing W76 warhead into the low-yield submarine-launched weapon requested by the Donald Trump administration by dialing back its explosive yield, a senior agency official said here Wednesday. “A low-yield submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead capability, deemed the W76 Mod 2, will be fielded […]

Accelerating upgrades for the nuclear warhead slated to fly in the next decade on a new air-launched cruise missile would consume the single largest portion of the budget increase proposed for National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) nuclear weapons programs in 2019, according to a detailed budget document released Friday. For fiscal 2019, the semiautonomous Department […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) could turn the existing W76 warhead into the low-yield submarine-launched weapon requested by the Donald Trump administration by dialing back its explosive yield, according to the acting head of the Department of Energy weapons agency. “A low-yield submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead capability, deemed the W76 […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory said Tuesday he is “confident” the Northern New Mexico nuclear weapons site could help create the low-yield nuclear warheads the Donald Trump administration requested in the Nuclear Posture Review released in early February. “Again, I go out on a branch, but I know from […]

Cost and schedule details about a proposed low-yield warhead for submarine-launched ballistic cruise missiles will appear in the White House’s fiscal 2019 budget requests later this month, but details about planned improvements to the Department of Energy’s nuclear-weapons complex will not be published until next year, the agency’s top nuclear official said Friday. The Donald […]

WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration could probably whip up a new low-yield warhead for submarine-launched ballistic missiles in “a couple years,” but doing so would slow ongoing programs to extend the life of current U.S. warheads, a former National Security Council official said Tuesday. “That’s something that the laboratories probably effectuate in a […]

A civil-military panel approved designs for an upgrade of the W88 nuclear ballistic missile warhead carried aboard U.S. submarines, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday in a press release. Panel members, drawn from within and outside of the Department of Energy agency, approved system-level designs for the W88’s upgraded arming, fuzing, and firing (AF&F) […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration dinged Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) for delays on a nuclear-bomb life-extension program in fiscal 2017 in a generally positive performance evaluation report published Thursday. Overall, CNS earned about $36 million in fees for managing the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency’s Y-12 Nuclear Security Complex in Tennessee and Pantex Plant in […]

A civil-military panel approved designs for an upgrade of the W88 nuclear ballistic missile warhead carried aboard U.S. submarines, the National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday in a press release. Panel members, drawn from within and outside of the Department of Energy agency, approved system-level designs for the W88’s upgraded arming, fuzing, and firing (AF&F) […]

With fewer than six months left on the incumbent’s contract, the Department of Energy still has not started competition for the next Savannah River Site management and operations deal — the pact that includes running the National Nuclear Security Administration’s tritium program. The NNSA extracts tritium gas, which boosts the yield of nuclear weapons, at the […]

At least where it concerns maintaining the U.S. nuclear arsenal under the care of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the National Security Strategy that President Donald Trump released this week does not depart radically from the nuclear modernization plan set in place by his predecessor. The United States must sustain “a nuclear […]

President Donald Trump this week signed the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which makes it harder to move plutonium pit production out of New Mexico, calls for a competition to design a new nuclear warhead for ballistic missiles, and authorizes Congress to keep funding a controversial plutonium-conversion facility. Trump inked the bill Tuesday, nearly […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) acknowledged the third test of 2017 for components of the updated B61-12 gravity bomb the agency is developing as part of the $1-trillion-plus U.S. nuclear modernization program. The two qualification flights took place Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, the NNSA said in a […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) acknowledged the third test of 2017 for components of the updated B61-12 gravity bomb the agency is developing as part of the $1-trillion-plus U.S. nuclear modernization program. The two qualification flights took place Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, NNSA wrote in a […]

It will cost about $1.2 trillion in current dollars to modernize and maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal over 30 years, including $261 billion in Department of Energy spending, the Congressional Budget Office said this week. Even fairly major changes to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) part of that portfolio would shave only about $10 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week announced back-to-back milestones on warhead refurbishments intended to preserve the potency of U.S. nuclear submarine and cruise missiles. On Tuesday, the NNSA said it modified the first W80-1 air-launched cruise-missile warhead under a program launched in 2012 to help keep the weapon suitable for service into the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has refurbished the first in a line of nuclear warheads that will be used on an aging fleet of U.S. cruise missiles well into next decade. The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear stockpile steward completed the first production unit of the W80-1 Alt 369 “before fiscal year 2017 came […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Monday it has wrapped up production of critical non-nuclear systems required to upgrade the W76 warhead. The Department of Energy’s semiautonomous stockpile steward said the milestone involves the W76’s Arming Fuzing Subsystem: a single assembly that includes “the weapon’s radar, programmer, and timer.” The NNSA did not say exactly […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Monday revealed it tested components of the B61-12 gravity bomb intended it is developing as part of the U.S. nuclear modernization effort. The two qualification flights took place Aug. 8 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, the NNSA said in a press release published on its website. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Monday revealed it tested components of the B61-12 gravity bomb intended it is developing as part of the U.S. nuclear modernization effort. The two qualification flights took place Aug. 8 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, the NNSA said in a press release published on its website. An […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week authorized the beginning of the W88 Alteration 370 program’s production engineering phase, part of the agency’s work in ensuring the reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. The W88 thermonuclear warhead is deployed on the Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missile carried on Ohio-class submarines. The warhead, in […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has received the implementation plan for extending the service lives of two decades-old enriched uranium processing buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, an agency spokesman said this week. The Extended Life Program implementation plan for the nuclear-weapon site’s Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E is considered a controlled […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has received the implementation plan for extending the service lives of two decades-old materials processing buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, an agency spokesman said this week. The Extended Life Program implementation plan for the nuclear-weapon site’s Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E is considered a controlled document […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb life-extension program will cost an estimated $8.25 billion, according to an update issued recently upon the completion of the program’s development engineering phase. The NNSA and the U.S. Air Force in 2010 initiated the program to consolidate four versions of the B61 nuclear bomb into […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration and Air Force Global Strike Command earlier this month conducted two joint flight tests of mock B61-7 and B61-11 nuclear gravity bombs. Two B-2A Spirit stealth bombers dropped the joint test assemblies over the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada in the successful test, the NNSA said in a press release. […]