nuclear-news

US announces deadly new nuclear weapon days after China announced warhead expansion

msn.com by Sarah Hooper  , 1 Nov 23

The United States has proposed plans for a new nuclear weapon 24 times stronger than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The proposed B61-13 nuclear gravity bomb will cost £569 million to produce and could kill a city of one million almost instantly with a 3.5 mile blast radius.

With a range of 6,000 miles and a 360 kiloton blast, the radioactive fallout would be significantly more devastating than that in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The bombs dropped in Japan had a yield of only 15 kilotons, and still killed nearly 200,000 people.

The new weapon has yet to be signed by Congress but is expected to have backing from the Republican party.

The Pentagon said: ‘The B61-13 will strengthen deterrence of adversaries and assurance of allies and partners by providing the President with additional options against certain harder and large-area military targets.’

America’s new nuclear bomb would be delivered by the high tech B-21 Raider stealth bomber and could destroy underground targets with higher accuracy.

The announcement came only days after China announced it would double its nuclear arsenal to nearly 1,000 warheads.

Washington currently has about 1,400 nuclear warheads, while Russia has around 1,500 – but China said it plans to double its current stockpile of 500 warheads within a decade.

China also announced it is developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile system that could allow it to strike the continental US……………………………………..

The announcement from both China and the US comes just a few weeks before Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden are set to meet face-to-face at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in mid-November.  https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/us-announces-deadly-new-nuclear-weapon-days-after-china-announced-warhead-expansion/ar-AA1j8RQI #nuclear #antinuclear #nuclearfree #NoNukes

November 2, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war