The National Nuclear Security Administration last month announced that production of the B61-12 Life Extension Program and W88 Alt 370 have met the halfway mark. 

Led by Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) at the Pantex Site in Texas, the program has churned out half of the necessary rehabbed nuclear weapons needed to arm Air Force bombers and fighter jets.  

Having both programs reach the halfway point at the same time is a unique achievement, NNSA says.

“It took every one of you doing your part, working together with those thousands of others to achieve the common goal of modernizing these two weapons systems in order to continue to provide the nation with a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear deterrent,” said Rich Tighe, president and chief executive officer of CNS in the lab’s online blog.

The B61-12 is a gravity bomb and the oldest in the U.S.arsenal. The W88 nuclear warhead entered the stockpile in late 1988 and is deployed on the Navy’s Trident II D5 Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile system

“The B61 gravity bomb is deployed by the U.S. Air Force on multiple platforms and has been in service more than 50 years, making it the oldest, most versatile weapon in the U.S. stockpile,” said Carlos Alvarado, deputy field office manager for the NNSA Production Office.

The Alt-370 program is what the NNSA calls a major alteration that aims to replace parts of the electric detonation system that triggers the newer and larger of the Navy’s two submarine-launched ballistic-missile warheads. 

The NNSA plans to build some 480 B61-12 bombs and has roughly 350 W88 warheads, the nongovernmental Federation of American Scientists estimates.

“Working on such complex programs can be daunting, but the nation is better off as a result of your diligence and dedication. The work done at Pantex is in support of our national security strategy,” said John Evans, NNSA assistant deputy administrator for stockpile management.

The NNSA plans to build some 480 B61-12 bombs and has roughly 350 W88 warheads, the nongovernmental Federation of American Scientists estimates.