US speeds production of nuclear bomb seven months ahead of schedule as Trump vows to make US 'stronger than ever before'

The US' nuclear deterrence program is being fast-tracked following Donald Trump vowing for the country to be 'greater, bigger, stronger, better than ever before'.

Earlier this year at the World Economic Forum, days after being sworn in as the 47th President of the US, Donald Trump reflected on the beginning of 'the golden age of America'.

He said: "We’ve accomplished more in less than four days [...] than other administrations have accomplished in four years, and we’re just getting started. It’s really an amazing thing to see, and the spirit and the light over our country has been incredible.

"Under the last administration, our nation has suffered greatly, but we are going to bring it back and make it greater, bigger, stronger, better than ever before."

And one element of making the US even 'stronger' than 'ever before,' includes it's nuclear deterrence.

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) revealed it's fast-tracking it's B61-13 program - a variable-yield gravity bomb - set to deliver it 'seven months earlier than expected'.

Sandia National Laboratories announced it's B61-13 program for 'Nuclear Deterrence' commencing in an update to its site: "Responding to a critical challenge and urgent need, the B61-13 program used innovative program planning that resulted in projected delivery seven months earlier than expected, a more than 25 percent decrease in overall time to first production unit.

"The B61-13 team reprioritized qualification activities, planned tests with US Air Force stakeholders and jointly completed requirements with Los Alamos National Laboratory and NNSA. Their creativity in system qualification put an aggressive set of plans in motion to meet stakeholder expectations."

The development of the latest nuclear deterrent device was reportedly announced in 2023, as per The Aviationist.

SNL said in a press statement at the time: "The B61-13 will strengthen deterrence of adversaries and assurance of allies and partners by providing the President with additional options against certain harder and large-area military targets."

The B61-13 program follows the completion of the last production unit of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb in December last year.

The B61-13 program (SNL)

The agency said, as quoted by The Aviationist: "The B61-12 LEP, which is critical to sustaining the Nation’s air delivered nuclear deterrent capability, extends the service life by at least 20 years through refurbishing, reusing, or replacing all the bomb’s nuclear and non-nuclear component."

Sandia senior manager Rich Otten said: "It’s a tremendous accomplishment. For more than a decade, people have poured their time, effort and careers into making this a reality."

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