NNSA finishes final B61-12; B61-13 next up, first production unit fiscal 2026

The National Nuclear Security Administration completed the last production unit of the B61-12 life extension program in December, the agency said Tuesday.

With production complete for the B61-12 life extension program, the press release said, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will now transition to producing the B61-13 gravity bomb, a new, higher-yield variant of the B61 gravity bomb that would replace older B61-7s in the stockpile, with a first production unit scheduled for fiscal year 2026. 

According to the 2025 Stockpile Stewardship Management Plan (SSMP), which the NNSA released in October, the B61-12 life extension was scheduled to “complete production and close out” in fiscal year 2026. A spokesperson told the Monitor in January 2024 that the last production unit would be finished by fiscal year 2025. The SSMP also projects the B61-13 will finish production in fiscal year 2028. 

B61-12’s production was originally scheduled to be produced in 2020, but was delayed a year when NNSA said it could not use certain capacitors it had planned for the B61 because they would not last as long as the Pentagon required. 

“Completing the B61-12 on schedule is the latest example of what we’ve been saying for several years now: NNSA is delivering capabilities at the pace and scale needed by our Department of Defense partners and our deterrence requirements,” Jill Hruby, administrator of NNSA, said in the release.

The B61-12 life extension began in 2008, and the gravity bomb itself is the oldest in the U.S. arsenal, with over 50 years of service. The NNSA coordinated with the Air Force to deliver the last production unit three years after the first production unit, which was produced in November 2021, the press release said.

The B61 family of bombs is currently deployed from the U.S. Air Force and NATO bases, NNSA said.