6-20-2025 5:51am

NewMexicoConservativeNews.com Reports: New Mexico's Role in Rolling Out New Bigger Nuclear Weapons

Chris Edwards Editor

NewMexicoConservativeNews.com courtesy of Sandia Labs

As the world grapples with the idea of a potential nuclear strike in the Middle East ans tempers flaring between Israel and Iran around nuclear weapons closer to home in New Mexico nuclear weapons production is top of mind at Sandia Labs.

Sandia National Laboratories heralded a milestone at the end of May: the first of a new type of nuclear gravity bomb was built ahead of schedule and is released to the military

The first B61-13 production unit was completed at the Pantex Plant in Texas, but Sandia was responsible for building many of the weapon’s nonnuclear components. Los Alamos National Laboratory was involved in development and testing of the weapon.

“The remarkable speed of the B61-13’s production is a testament to the ingenuity of our scientists and engineers and the urgency we face to fortify deterrence in a volatile new age,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.

The B61-13 was completed two years after it was announced during the Biden administration as a part of a weapons upgrade. That makes it the most rapidly developed and fielded weapon since the Cold War, according to an Energy Department news release.

The U.S. is not increasing its number of nuclear weapons with the new bombs. Instead, the B61-13s will replace some of the country’s B61-7 gravity bombs, which have a similar yield.

“This is just one little segment of the $2 trillion so-called modernization program that is really a program to keep nuclear weapons forever,” said Jay Coghlan, executive director of nonprofit Nuclear Watch New Mexico. “So what we’re seeing is every warhead in the existing stockpile is being refurbished to extend its service life by decades, and also being given new military capabilities.”

The yield, or amount of energy released when the nuclear weapon is detonated, is higher for the new bombs. The new B61-13s are approximately 300 kilotons. The B61-12’s maximum yield is 50 kilotons. The bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima was estimated at 15 kilotons.

Production is expected to ramp up as per a report from the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States released in October in the final days of the Biden Administration concluding the USA needs to prepare and better address threats from Russia and China.

“These threats are such that the United States and its allies and partners must be ready to deter and defeat both adversaries simple ,” the report says.