Warhead & Weapons Development

The U.S. Air Force officially ended the B52-H’s mission to carry nuclear gravity bombs late last year, according to an updated operating military manual making the rounds online this week. Air Force Instruction 91-111, dated Sept. 5, calls for “removal of B61-7 and B83-1 from B-52H approved weapons configuration.” Hans Kristensen, the Washington-based director of […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is revising its plan to implement recommendations the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board made this year about the Pantex nuclear-weapon servicing plant in Texas. “The Department of Energy has accepted the need to revise and update our implementation plan,” James McConnell, NNSA associate administrator for safety, infrastructure, and […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is revising its plan to implement recommendations the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board made this year about the Pantex nuclear-weapon servicing plant. “The Department of Energy has accepted the need to revise and update our implementation plan,” James McConnell, NNSA associate administrator for safety, infrastructure, and operations, said […]

MCLEAN, Va. — The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to help defray cost overruns on two nuclear-weapon refurbishments by stripping features out of the planned warhead for the Air Force’s next land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, a senior agency official said Thursday. The features to be cut, however, are not mission-essential requirements for the […]

WASHINGTON —It will cost as much as $850 million to replace commercial capacitors deemed unsuitable for use in two refurbished nuclear weapons, a senior National Nuclear Security Administration official told lawmakers here this week. For the B61-12 gravity bomb, an ongoing homogenization of four different versions of the oldest deployed nuclear weapon, the costs will […]

WASHINGTON —It will cost as much as $850 million to replace commercial capacitors unsuitable for use in two refurbished nuclear weapons, a senior National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official told lawmakers here. For the B61-12 gravity bomb, an ongoing homogenization of four different versions of the oldest deployed nuclear weapon, the costs will range from […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Air Force in August completed three more flight tests of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb — a weapon whose first production date will be delayed because one of its non-nuclear components was not durable enough to last 30 years in the field. The latest three tests […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — It could take 18 months longer than thought to finish a pair of crucial nuclear weapon refurbishments, a senior National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official said here Wednesday. The first production units of the B61-12 gravity bomb and the W88 Alt-370 submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead are “going to be delayed by approximately 16 […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — It could take 18 months longer than thought to finish a pair of crucial nuclear weapon refurbishments, a senior National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official said here Wednesday. The first production units of the B61-12 gravity bomb and the W88 Alt-370 submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead are “going to be delayed by approximately 16 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is still determining if problems with non-nuclear components will prevent the B61-12 gravity bomb and W88 Alt 370 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead from entering service with the Air Force and Navy on time, according to an annual agency report released Wednesday. The details are included in the agency’s 2020 Stockpile […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is still determining if problems with non-nuclear weapons components will prevent the B61-12 gravity bomb and W88 Alt 370 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead from entering service with the Air Force and Navy on time, according to an annual agency report released Wednesday. The details are included in the agency’s 2020 […]

The House of Representatives late Tuesday struck down amendments to a multi-agency appropriations bill for fiscal 2020 would have wiped out a next-generation cruise missile and permitted the Navy to deploy a low-yield, nuclear-tipped ballistic missile. An amendment from Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) to prohibit research on the Pentagon’s Long-Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile […]

The House Armed Services Committee early Thursday approved its version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act after about 18 hours of debate. The House committee’s annual defense policy bill, now headed to the House floor, authorizes about $15.8 billion for the active nuclear weapons programs managed by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security […]

Nuclear hawks and doves had varying success this week in attaching amendments to a minibus spending bill in the House of Representatives that would fund the Department of Energy in fiscal 2020. The bill was slated for debate on the House floor today. That debate begins even as the House Armed Services Committee is scheduled this morning to […]

Banning a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead could stop “some nitwit at the Pentagon” from attempting to fight a nuclear war, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Monday. It remains unclear how far Smith is willing to go to block the low-yield warhead, dubbed the W76-2. The Smith-authored $733 billion […]

Democrats on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee on Tuesday used their majority to kill a GOP amendment that would have kept the Department of Energy’s plan to produce plutonium pits in South Carolina off the chopping block. Subcommittee Democrats, led by Rep. James Cooper (R-Tenn.), quashed the amendment from Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) […]

WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee this week approved legislation that would slow development of next-generation, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with Department of Energy infrastructure that supports them. The next stop for the two bills — which passed essentially along party lines, and without any amendments directly affecting nuclear arms spending — is the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has given the go-ahead for the roughly $145 million High Explosives Pressing Facility at the Pantex Plant in Texas to begin full-scale operations. The facility can press some 2,500 pounds of conventional high explosives a year, and shape up to 500 explosive hemispheres, the semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration gave the go-ahead for the roughly $145 million High Explosive Pressing Facility at the Pantex Plant to begin full-scale operations, according to a Thursday press release from the semi-autonomous DOE nuclear weapons agency. The facility can press some 2,500 pounds of conventional high explosives a year, and up to 500 […]

Boeing’s contract to build the tail kit that will guide the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb during free fall is worth $215 million over four years, according to an Air Force procurement document released last week. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida released the initial funds for the sole-source […]

Boeing has received a roughly $125 million contract modification to procure some long-lead components for the guided tail kit the company is making for the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, the Department of Defense announced Friday. The contract for tail-kit parts is now in total worth about $130 million, according to a Pentagon procurement notice. The […]

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration should reconsider their decision to make nuclear-weapon cores in two states beginning in 2030 after yet another study concluded the plan cannot meet a White House production deadline, a key lawmaker said here in a Wednesday hearing. “The Institute for Defense Analyses found that none […]

Boeing has received a roughly $125 million contract modification to procure some long-lead components for the guided tail kit the company is making for the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, the Department of Defense announced Friday. The contract for tail-kit parts is now worth a total of about $130 million, according to a Pentagon procurement notice. […]

By Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily As expected, Boeing on Wednesday reported lower sales and earning stemming from a halt in deliveries and flights of its 737 MAX passenger aircraft but the pain from that issue was softened by gains in the defense and services segments. “I want to be very clear, when it comes to resource […]

By Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily Lockheed Martin blew open the door in its first quarter financials with a strong showing across all of its operating segments and the company increased its guidance for earnings, sales and cash this year. Net income jumped a whopping 42 percent to $1.7 billion, $5.99 earnings per share (EPS), from […]

By Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily The acquisition last year of Orbital ATK, combined with strong results in the company’s Aerospace Systems, led to a solid opening quarter for Northrop Grumman, with sales and earnings higher and the outlook for earnings higher this year. Net income increased 3 percent to $863 million, $5.06 earnings per share […]

By Calvin Biesecker Defense Daily Raytheon on Thursday reported strong first quarter results with the company’s earnings leading the way with a double-digit gain on operational performance, some pension tailwinds and other positives. Despite beating its own and analysts’ expectations on earnings, Raytheon left its outlook for 2019 unchanged. Company officials on their investor call said […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week accepted the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s (DNFSB) recommendation to improve the safety of nuclear explosives handling at the Pantex weapons service plant in Amarillo, Texas. Some of these tweaks to operations at the Pantex Plant are complete already, NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty wrote in a letter to […]

The Air Force last week awarded Boeing a $14.3 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to modernize the B-1 and B-52 bomber weapons systems through 2029, according to an April 12 announcement. The contract includes the modification, modernization, engineering, sustainment and test for the weapons systems on the B-1 Lancer and the B-52 Stratofortress. “This B-1/B-52 Flexible Acquisition and […]

A planned South Carolina facility will be able to produce 50 plutonium nuclear-weapon cores a year by 2030, despite a Department of Energy-funded study that says 2035 is more realistic, according to a top official with DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). “We have been working on scenarios to bring it back in time to […]