Saturday, June 7, 2014

Isn't "Precision Nuclear" Weapon an Oxymoron?

The B61 family of nuclear bombs
Precision-Guided Nuclear Weapons
Precision-Guided Nuclear Weapons

Abstract

The Obama administration has approved an upgrade to the B61 nuclear bomb that will, through use of a new tail kit assembly, become a guided standoff nuclear bomb. If the upgrade—the 12th modification of the original B61 design—is pursued as planned, the US Air Force will obtain the low-yield, precision-guided nuclear weapon it first sought in the 1990s, despite concerns that it could increase the likelihood of use. The weapon’s overall price tag is expected to exceed $10 billion, with each B61-12 estimated to cost more than the value of its weight in gold.

No comments:

Post a Comment