Friday, October 7, 2016

U.S. Air Force Is Testing Its Ability To Drop Nuclear Bombs

A B-2 stealth bomber drops an inert B61 nuclear bomb.

Defense One: The US Air Force Just Dropped Two Fake Nukes

The tests in the Nevada desert come as tensions rise with Russia and the Pentagon seeks to replace its aging nuclear arsenal.

A pair of U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers dropped two 700-pound faux nuclear bombs in the middle of the Nevada desert within the past few days. Now the Pentagon wants to tell you about it.

Conducted “earlier this month,” according to an Oct. 6 press release, the test involved two dummy variants of the B61, a nuclear bomb that has been in the U.S. arsenal since the 1960s. One was an “earth penetrator” made to strike underground targets, the other a tactical version of the B61. Neither carried an actual warhead.

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WNU Editor: This nuclear modernisation program is not going to be cheap .... The total price tag for the all of the new nuclear weapons is projected to cost between $350 billion to $450 billion over the next two decades.

4 comments:

H.O.S.T. 7734 said...

Tax money well spent.

H.O.S.T. 7734 said...

Tax money well spent.

H.O.S.T. 7734 said...

Tax money well spent

B.Poster said...

"Tax money well spent." While the nuclear arsenal and the means to deliver it is the most important part of our national defense and will become even more important in the future as the US lacks the conventional military capabilities of some of its adversaries and once the US dollar loses its role as world reserve currency the gap between America and its adversaries will likely become even greater than it is today. it does seem this could be done less expensively.

I wonder how much Russia spent on their nuclear arsenal? There model might be one we could study. Surely they did not spend 350 to 450 billion to modernize their nuclear arsenal.

Furthermore when the US government estimates the cost of anything it always turns out to be more than they projected. I believe part of this problem is corruption but a bigger part of this is the maddening tendency to overestimate our own abilities, underestimating those of adversaries, overestimating the benefits of a given action. underestimate the costs, all while downplaying the risks and challenges that might be associated with a given action. As such, when challenges arise they are completely unprepared and we end up way over budget on these things.