The US Air Force Just Dropped Something in the Nevada Desert That Could Wipe Out ISIS
"Death from above" isn't just a catchy slogan...
Duane Lester November 18, 2015 at 8:23am
The U.S. Air Force recently took to the skies to test a new, deadly weapon — just to make sure that when it goes into combat, it does what it’s supposed to — kill lots of bad guys.
News reports say that the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb was tested in the Nevada desert by the Air Force and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The bomb did not contain any enriched nuclear material.
According to a technical statement on the NNSA’s website, “The flight test asset consisted of hardware designed by Sandia National and Los Alamos National Laboratories, manufactured by the National Security Enterprise Plants, and mated to the tail-kit assembly section, designed by The Boeing Company under contract with Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center.”
“This demonstration of effective end-to-end system performance under representative delivery conditions marks another 2015 achievement in the development of the B61-12 Life Extension Program,” NNSA Deputy Administrator Madelyn Creedon said in the statement. “Completing this guided B61-12 flight test provides additional evidence of the nation’s continued commitment to our nation’s security and that of our allies and partners.”
This was the third of three development flight tests for the B61-12 Life Extension Program (LEP). According to the press release, an F-15E took off from Nellis Air Force Base and dropped the test bomb, successfully demonstrating performance in a “realistic guided flight environment.”
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Everything appeared to function as designed during the test, with telemetry, tracking and video data all collected properly, according to officials.
“This test provides additional confidence in the weapon system and instrumentation designs prior to authorizing Phase 6.4, Production Engineering, in 2016,” the statement read. “With the incorporation of an Air Force provided tail-kit assembly, the B61-12 will replace the existing B61-3, -4, -7, and -10 bombs.”
A gravity bomb is an unguided bomb, also known as a dumb bomb, iron bomb or free-fall bomb. This basically means there is no guidance system on the weapon, that it is simply released from the aircraft and it follows a ballistic course.
Some believe it’s doubtful nuclear gravity bombs will be used in conflict during the current administration, unless ISIS were to do something so horrific, it merited a nuclear response. Even then, skeptics don’t believe this president would use nuclear weapons.
h/t: Red Flag News
Image Credit: NNSA website
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