At a time when there is still widespread concern about conventional tasks such as long-range air superiority, combat, and precision attack on the ground, the U.S. Air Force is ready to let the fifth-generation aircraft take full advantage of stealth advantages to carry out nuclear strike missions, and more notably, the US military may expand its deployment area from Europe to the Indo-Pacific region.
The B61-12 nuclear test bomb was dropped from the F-35A module
The U.S. Air Force Air Operations Command (ACC) announced in early October that the F-35A fighter had completed the Full Weapon System Demonstration Verification (FWSD) for the B61-12 nuclear bomb, and the U.S. military certification was divided into two phases: nuclear design certification and nuclear operations certification, and the FWSD was considered to have completed the nuclear design certification phase.
Lt. Col. Douglas Cabell, deputy director of the Strategic Deterrence Division of the Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC), said not every F-35A could perform a nuclear mission and would only add nuclear strike capability to some aircraft.
B-2 throwing B-61 test
It is often thought that only strategic bombers are associated with nuclear bombs, but in fact, in addition to the B-52, B-1B, and B-2 strategic bombers, F-15s and F-16s can also drop B-61 nuclear bombs, and the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 also retains the ability to drop B61s.
Not only that, the fighters of the US NATO allies can also carry out the task of throwing B61, which is the mark left by the Cold War era, such as the British-German "Tornado" fighter has a B-61 throwing certification, and the European Typhoon fighters of britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are also planning to obtain certification for the use of B61, whether it can be successful depends on whether the four countries are willing to hand over the technical details of the "Typhoon" to the United States; in addition, Germany intends to retire the "Tornado" fighter-bomber in 2025-2030, but requires the replacement of the "Tornado" The fighter must have the ability to invest in the B61, which directly led to the withdrawal of Sweden's JAS-39E from the competition, and Germany chose the American Boeing F/A-18E/F and E/A-18G that can carry the B-61; and some elite pilots of the F-16 of the Turkish Air Force of NATO member countries have been trained to throw B61s to attack Russian targets.
The Luftwaffe's Tornado and Typhoon fighters
The deployment of the B61 nuclear bomb in Europe and the ability of several warplanes within NATO to drop it were the Cold War's anti-Soviet steel torrents. Now, deploying the F-35A, which has the ability to drop the B61-12 nuclear bomb, to the Indo-Pacific region is already within the consideration of the US military, which will undoubtedly lead to more dangerous moves in the region.
B61-12 is the latest improved model of the B61 nuclear bomb with a history of more than 60 years, the B61 series of nuclear bombs and B83 nuclear bombs are the two main nuclear bombs dropped by bombers or fighters of the US military, the B83 is mainly carried by bombers such as B-52, with an equivalent capacity of 1.2 million tons, which is much more powerful than the "Militia" and "Trident" strategic missile warheads W88 and W87, which belong to the strategic nuclear bomb and weigh 1.1 tons. The B61 weighs only about 350 kilograms, the explosive yield is adjustable between 300 tons and 50,000 tons, even the light fighter F-16 can be mounted, as for the B-2, B-52 and other strategic bombers can be mounted dozens, Hiroshima Nagasaki two nuclear bombs, the equivalent is only 15,000 tons and 22,000 tons, respectively, the weight is 4.1 tons and 4.9 tons.
B-61 in the bomb bay of the F-35A
B61-12, also known as "precision guided nuclear bomb", adopts a movable tail design, replacing the previous model of parachute parachute landing, the guidance method is also updated to "GPS/INS" composite guidance, the strike accuracy is improved from 100 meters to less than 30 meters, in order to be stuffed into the F-35A bomb bay, the projectile body is redesigned, smaller than the previous model.
This precision-guided nuclear bomb is also prepared for the future B-21 bomber, the United States invested a total of 11 billion US dollars for 400 B61-12, each costing 27.5 million US dollars, more expensive than the same weight of gold, according to reports, the United States is also developing another 4 precision guided nuclear bombs, the total investment is as high as 1 trillion US dollars.
The accuracy of the B61-12 is greatly improved
The B61-12 precision-guided nuclear bomb combat method is to drill ground with high precision, the target is an important facility such as an underground command post, which can destroy various facilities at a depth of 200 meters underground, and the adjustable equivalent can set the explosion yield according to the target situation to reduce "destroying irrelevant targets".
The Pentagon believes that in the future, the US military's nuclear weapons should take the road of "small precision", maintain a strong deterrent while reducing the stockpile of nuclear weapons, and in the event of conflict, the "first use of nuclear weapons" to destroy the enemy's most important targets, B61-12 is a nuclear weapon within the scope of this limited nuclear war.
The F-35A or B-21, B-2 is to make full use of stealth capabilities, deep into the enemy's hinterland, to perform the so-called penetrating air strike mission, some analysts believe that if the United States and Iran war, the US military is likely to use F-35A mounted B61-12 nuclear bombs to attack Iran's underground facilities.
However, the technology of miniaturization and high precision of nuclear bombs has long been not unique to the United States, and it is scary to hold the nuclear rod in your hand, but it seems to be somewhat technically poor, and it is even more ridiculous to clamor for "limited nuclear war". L
Original production of "Joint Defense"