The U.S. Tested The B61-12 Thermonuclear Bomb On The F-35

• 15.11.2025, 10:59

The results are positive.

The United States of America has successfully flight-tested the B61-12 tactical thermonuclear aerial bomb without a warhead.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratory (Sandia) reported that.

According to Sandia, employees of Sandia National Laboratory and the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) participated in the thermonuclear aerial bomb test.

The test took place from August 19 to 21 this year at the Nevada Test Site. F-35 fighter jets delivered and dropped the bombs with inert warheads.

Nuclear bombs have never before been dropped from the F-35. The B61-12 is a thermonuclear bomb that the US Army adopted back in 1968.

Or rather, the first modification of this weapon, which, incidentally, is the main weapon of the US strategic nuclear forces, was adopted at that time. Since then, it has been upgraded several times.

In 2024, the NNSA completed a program to extend the life of these bombs in service for at least 20 years.

On October 29, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump unexpectedly ordered the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear testing "on an equal basis" with other nations.

Trump gave the order days after Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced the allegedly successful tests of a new nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile and a nuclear-capable Poseidon torpedo.

The United States modernized nuclear weapons when Trump was first president. But the last time the U.S. conducted a nuclear test was in 1992, when George Bush Sr was president. The U.S. signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the mid-1990s but has yet to ratify it.