U.S. Air Force Releases Photos Of Mock B61-12 Nuclear Bomb Test Loaded On B-2A Bomber
July 7, 2022 WeaponsSTEFANO D'URSO
The testing of the new nuclear weapon is continuing with the integration on the Spirit stealth bomber.
The U.S. Air Force recently released on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) website a series of interesting photos from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. The photos, taken on June 13, 2022, show a high-fidelity, non-nuclear mock B61-12 Joint Test Assembly (JTA) being prepared for test loading inside the B-2A Spirit stealth bomber’s bombs bay. To our knowledge, these should be the first public photos of the weapon with the Spirit since testing aboard the aircraft has begun few years ago.
The Air Force did not provide many details and did not even mention the name of the bomb, simply stating “the 72nd Test and Evaluation Squadron test loads a new nuclear-capable weapons delivery system for the B-2 Spirit bomber”. The 72nd TES, a geographically separated unit of Eglin AFB’s 53rd Wing based at Whiteman, is in charge of all testing and evaluation of new equipment, software and weapons systems for the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.”
It is not clear what the caption refers to with the term “nuclear-capable weapons delivery system”. The unofficial Nuclear Matters Handbook of the office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters, gives us the following definition:
https://theaviationist.com/2022/07/07/usaf-b61-12-tests/
