US Nuclear Arsenal Upgrade and Test Could 'Lower Threshhold' of Use, Russia Says

The United States National Nuclear Security Administration announced Tuesday that it had conducted a series of test flights for an upgraded nuclear weapon, designed to be more accurate, drawing international criticism from those who say the bomb might “lower the threshold” of nuclear use.

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The NNSA released a statement confirming that “B61-12 gravity bombs, without a nuclear warhead, were dropped from F-15E fighter jets at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada on August 8th. The tests were intended to check the bomb's non-nuclear functions and the aircraft's capability to deliver the weapon.”

“These realistic flight qualification tests validate the design of the B61-12 when it comes to system performance,” the statement continued.

The B61-12 is a mainstay of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and the most recent version being tested is designed to be more accurate and controlable, with a variable yield from 0.3 kilotons to 340 kiltons, which is 19 times the yield of the nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the U.S. during World War II.

“U.S. military specialists claim that this bomb will be more ethical and more usable, because it has greater accuracy and results in less catastrophic effects for civilians if used on vast areas,” the Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Non-Proliferation and Weapons Control Department, Mikhail Ulyanov said on Tuesday about the tests according to TASS.

“This prompts the conclusion that when they go operational, such bombs may objectively lower the threshhold of using nuclear weapons. We see this as the key negative effect of the ongoing upgrade work,” he continued.

Russian military analyst said in an interview with Sputnik that the test “means that the Americans are preparing for war,” and said it was an attempt to “scare” North Korea.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump bragged about the “powerful” U.S. nuclear arsenal in a Twitter post, and emphasized that he was pushing for its upgrade.

“My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said on August 9th. “There will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!”

North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as it is officially known as, tested a ballistic missile, that flew over Japan and into the ocean this week. The United States and South Korea, who are currently engaged in joint war rehearsals close to North Korea's border involving live munitions, harshly criticized the test, which they called “outrageous.”