The US is speeding up the delivery of highly accurate guided tactical nuclear weapons to Europe by around four months as tensions rise between Moscow and the West.
The B61-12 gravity bomb was due for Spring 2023 but they are now accelerating plans to have it ready for this December, US officials told NATO allies during a closed-door meeting in Brussels this month.
But what are these weapons and what are they capable of?
The new thermonuclear bombs are "dial-a-yield" devices and are one of the most versatile in the US' arsenal because its explosive power can be ramped up or down depending on the target.
Specialist defence magazine, the National Interest, called the bomb the most devastating nuclear bomb in the arsenal of the US.
It continued: "What makes the B61-12 bomb the most dangerous nuclear weapon in America’s arsenal is its usability. This usability derives from a combination of its accuracy and low yield.
"In terms of the former, the B61-12 is America’s first nuclear-guided bomb."
One scholar told the magazine: “Making a weapon twice as accurate has the same effect on lethality as making the warhead eight times as powerful."
They say it makes using nuclear weapons thinkable for the first time since the 1940s and deploying the B61-12 only encourages this trend further.
B61-12s have four yields that can be selected - 0.3, 1.5, 10 or a gargantuan 50 kilotons.
By comparison, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield of about 15 kilotons.
The two bombings in Hiroshima killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians.
The bombs will replace older weapons across various storage facilities in Europe for potential use by US and allied bombers and fighter jets.
It uses an inertial navigation system to achieve high kill probability with an accuracy of approximately 30m.
It comes as nations in the West are worried by Russia ’s threats to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine and amid growing concerns that the West needs to do more to deter Moscow from crossing that line.
Asked for comment, Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Patrick Ryder said: “While we aren’t going to discuss details of our nuclear arsenal, modernisation of US B61 nuclear weapons has been underway for years and plans to safely and responsibly swap out older weapons for the upgraded B61-12 versions is part of a long-planned and scheduled modernisation effort.”
“It is in no way linked to current events in Ukraine and was not sped up in any way,” he said.
One analyst told Politico he thinks that the move is aimed more at NATO countries than Russia.
“There are [older] B61s already there. The Russians know that. They work just fine. The new ones will be newer, but it’s not really that much of a difference. But it may be a way to assure the allies when they are feeling particularly threatened by Russia," he said.
Currently, the US has 100 older B61s stored at bases in European countries including Germany and Italy.
The new bombs will be able to be dropped from numerous aircraft including B-2 stealth bombers, and smaller warplanes like the F-15, F-35 and Tornado.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the UK, specifically Liz Truss, for initiating nuclear provocations.
Putin claimed to have "never said anything proactively about the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia".
Instead, he said the Kremlin have "only hinted in response to statements made by western leaders."
