The US has carried out a second flight test of a newly upgraded nuclear free-fall bomb in five months at the Tonopah Test Range in the state of Nevada which it says is designed to “meet national security requirements.”
The test of the B61-12 bomb, which was the second of the upgraded B-61 variant, was dropped by an F-15E Fighting Falcon jet on August 8. The second qualification flight test for the nuclear weapon was completed by the US Air Force and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), with the first one having been successfully conducted in March.
“The B61-12 life extension program is progressing on schedule to meet national security requirements,” acting NNSA deputy administrator for defense programs Phil Calbos said in a statement on Tuesday.
“These realistic flight qualification tests validate the design of the B61-12 when it comes to system performance.”
According to an NNSA statement, during the…