Warhead & Weapons Development

As lawmakers on Capitol Hill sound alarms about the possibility of entering fiscal 2020 with a continuing resolution – or worse, sequestration – Air Force leadership said Thursday that $29 billion is at stake should the 2011 Budget Control Act spending cap levels return. A return to sequestration levels would cause four times the amount […]

WASHINGTON  – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) can only wait five to seven more years before beginning a potentially costly life-extension program on the megaton-class B83 gravity bomb, a senior agency official said here Wednesday in a budget hearing. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) coaxed the estimate out of Charles Verdon, deputy administrator for NNSA Defense Programs, […]

Proportionally or by raw dollars, the W80-4 life-extension program would get the biggest increase of any active Department of Energy nuclear warhead refurbishment in fiscal 2020, if the Trump administration’s budget request becomes law. The program led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California already received an enormous budget increase in 2019 to pace […]

Proportionally or by raw dollars, the W80-4 life-extension program would get the biggest increase of any active Department of Energy nuclear warhead refurbishment in fiscal 2020, if the Trump administration’s budget request became law. The program led by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California already received an enormous budget increase in 2019 to pace […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in fiscal 2020 intends to study a nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile, and to start work to preserve the last megaton-class weapon in the U.S. arsenal, the B83 gravity bomb, according to a 2020 budget document released Friday. The efforts are funded within the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Directed […]

Boeing Co. has received a $250 million sole-source Air Force contract to prepare the planned nuclear-tipped Long-Range Standoff cruise missile to fly aboard the B-52H bomber, the Air Force announced Wednesday. The Boeing work will mostly be done in Oklahoma City and is scheduled for completion by Dec. 31, 2024,  according to the Air Force. Work covered […]

The White House is seeking $16.5 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for fiscal 2020: a roughly 8-percent increase from just over $15 billion in 2019 that, a senior Department of Energy official said this week, includes more funding for a controversial low-yield nuclear warhead. The NNSA completed the first of these modified, […]

The White House is seeking $16.5 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for fiscal 2020: a roughly 8-percent increase from just over $15 billion in 2019 that, a senior Department of Energy official said Monday, includes more funding for a controversial low-yield nuclear warhead. The NNSA completed the first of these modified submarine-launched […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has certified its first new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead as battle ready. In a Monday press release, the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency said it “successfully completed the First Production Unit (FPU) of the W76-2 warhead Feb. 22 at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.” The W76-2 warhead is […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Monday that it has certified its first new low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead as battle ready. In a late-afternoon press release, the semiautonomous Department of Energy agency said it “successfully completed the First Production Unit (FPU) of the W76-2 warhead Feb. 22 at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.” […]

Environmental groups that sued to stop construction of the Department of Energy’s new uranium hub in Tennessee want a federal judge to cut to the chase and rule in their favor, court papers filed this week show. The anti-nuke coalition on Monday asked for a summary judgment in the nearly 3-year-old lawsuit in the U.S. […]

Environmental groups that sued to stop construction of the Department of Energy’s new uranium hub in Tennessee want a federal judge to cut to the chase and rule in their favor, court papers filed Monday show. The anti-nuke coalition this week asked for a summary judgment in the nearly 3-year-old lawsuit in the U.S. District […]

ARLINGTON, Va. —The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in January completed its first low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead, which now awaits a final design review in Texas before the agency can ship it to the Navy, an agency official said here Tuesday. The NNSA assembled the first W76-2 warhead, a modified version of the recently refurbished […]

ARLINGTON, Va. — It could take a decade to build the low-yield, nuclear-tipped, sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM) demanded by the Donald Trump administration, and development might not start until the Pentagon finishes a separate nuclear missile, a senior Defense Department official said here Thursday. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review called on the Departments of Defense and Energy […]

ARLINGTON, Va. —The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in January completed its first low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead, which now awaits a final design review in Texas before the agency can ship it to the Navy, an agency official said here Tuesday. Production of the W76-2 warhead, a modified version of the recently refurbished W76-1, is conducted […]

House Democrats on Thursday introduced a bill to ban the low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead the National Nuclear Security Administration recently acknowledged it started producing. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) leads the cadre of Democrats, which includes House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.). The text of the bill, “H.R.1086 – To prohibit the research and […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Jan. 18 it finished building the secondary stage for the first war-ready B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb on Dec. 6. The canned subassembly is the uranium-fueled stage of the future gravity bomb, which as part of a 20-year life-extension program will homogenize four previous versions of the venerable weapon. The […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it has started building the first low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead ordered by the Donald Trump administration last year. “The Pantex Plant has initiated assembly of the W76-2 First Production Unit,” an agency spokesperson wrote Friday in an email response to a query from Nuclear Security & […]

The upper echelons of the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons apparatus shed no light Wednesday on exactly when they will begin producing the low-yield W76-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead — a modified version of the W76-1 warhead whose just-completed modernization drew a who’s who of agency leadership to Amarillo, Texas. Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday it finished building the secondary stage for the first war-ready B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb on Dec. 6. The canned subassembly is the uranium-fueled stage of the future gravity bomb, which as part of a 20-year life-extension program will homogenize four previous versions of the venerable weapon. The subassembly […]

In the National Nuclear Security Administration’s world of warheads and bombs, the big question of 2019 is: will the newly divided Congress quash the newly funded W76-2 low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead? The GOP-controlled government last year funded the weapon to the tune of $65 million for fiscal 2019, over the loud protests of congressional […]

Defense contractor Boeing is clear to start production on crucial hardware for the B61-12 next-generation nuclear gravity bomb, the U.S. Air Force announced. Boeing’s tail kit cleared Milestone C — which in Pentagon program management precedes a project’s construction phase — in late October, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at the Kirtland Air Force […]

The United States could shave about $13 billion off the federal deficit over 20 years by slashing some 500 warheads from the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the nonpartisan federal Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. The suggestion was only one of many money-saving ideas in the biennial Options for Reducing the Deficit report, which this year covers […]

Defense contractor Boeing is clear to start production on crucial hardware for the B61-12 next-generation nuclear gravity bomb, according to the U.S. Air Force announced. Boeing’s tail kit cleared Milestone C — which in Pentagon program management precedes a project’s construction phase — in late October, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at the Kirtland […]

A Government Accountability Office report published recently roughs out the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) timeline for producing a refurbished intercontinental ballistic missile warhead by roughly 2030. The NNSA would begin studying options for a W78 replacement between April and June 2019, nail down a cost and schedule baseline by June 2022, and produce the first war-ready […]

A Government Accountability Office report published Friday roughs out the National Nuclear Security Administration’s timeline for producing a refurbished intercontinental ballistic missile warhead by roughly 2030. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would begin studying options for a W78 replacement between April and June 2019, nail down a baseline by June 2022, and produce the […]

Democrats this week won control of the House of Representatives, and the aspirant chair of the House Armed Services Committee said they plan to go after nuclear weapons when the 116th Congress convenes in January. In the cross hairs: the 30-year nuclear modernization program established by the Barack Obama administration in 2016 and augmented this year […]

Having won control of the House of Representatives for the upcoming 116th Congress, Democrats are likely to heighten scrutiny of the nuclear arsenal modernization regime and paint a big target on the back of the low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile authorized this year. In the past few months, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), likely chair of the House Armed […]

The Department of Energy last week finished a final design review on a multibillion-dollar program to homogenize four versions of the existing B61 nuclear gravity bomb, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration said. “Production qualification activities at Pantex will begin in October 2018, which will enable Phase 6.5 First Production authorization in September […]

The Department of Energy finished a final design review on a multibillion-dollar program to homogenize four versions of the existing B61 nuclear gravity bomb, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration said in a press release Friday. “Production qualification activities at Pantex will begin in October 2018, which will enable Phase 6.5 First Production […]