US Developing New Nuclear Weapon B61-13, Modelling Shows Significant Impact on Major Cities Globally

B61-13 nuclear bomb variant, the latest in B61 series, is in development by the Department of Defense with expected power equivalent to the older B61-7 model, modeling predicts devastating impact on world's major cities.

• The Department of Defense (DOD) is developing the latest variant of the B61 gravity bomb, the B61-13, that would reportedly bring widespread destruction to major cities globally.
• While the B61-13's estimated power is said to be similar to an older model, the B61-7, it is intended to provide the administration with additional options against certain large-area military targets, strengthening deterrence of adversaries.
• Details from modelling studies suggest a B61-7 nuclear detonation over London, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, and Berlin would result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of injuries in each city, highlighting the potential scale of devastation the B61-13 could inflict.
• Detonation of the B61-13, which is equivalent in yield to the B61-7 bomb, over New York City, would reportedly destroy most of Manhattan and have a huge impact miles away, with over 778,000 estimated fatalities and over a million injuries.
• Critics such as the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) have described the B61-13 as 'a political nuclear bomb', arguing that the military does not require an additional, more powerful gravity bomb. The Biden administration contends that the new weapon will not increase the total number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile, but will instead replace some of the warheads of a newer model, the B61-12.

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