US Building Nuclear Weapon 24 Times More Powerful than Hiroshima Bomb

The Department of Defense on Friday announced that the United States is planning to add a super-powerful new nuclear bomb to its arsenal. 

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb unveiled the agency’s pursuit for the B61-13 nuclear bomb, saying it’s “pending Congressional authorization and appropriation.”

Fox News reported that the bomb the Defense Department is pursuing is 24 times more powerful than the one the United States dropped on Hiroshima during World War II, a relatively crude atomic device nicknamed "Little Boy."

Plumb said its pursuit comes in the middle of a “changing security environment and growing threats from potential adversaries.”

The announcement comes days after Russia announced that the Kremlin had successfully tested its ability to fire a retaliatory nuclear strike by land, sea, and air, as The Messenger previously reported. And last month, the Pentagon warned that China has added 100 new warheads to its arsenal. 

“The United States has a responsibility to continue to assess and field the capabilities we need to credibly deter and, if necessary, respond to strategic attacks, and assure our allies,” Plumb added. 

The B61-13 nuke would give more options for the White House “against certain harder and large-area military targets,” the release said. 

“The B61-13 represents a reasonable step to manage the challenges of a highly dynamic security environment,” Plumb said, noting that production of the weapon will not increase the overall number of weapons in the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

Instead, the B61-13 would replace another bomb, the B61-12, which only recently went into production.