Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, holds a pair of binoculars while watching a joint strategic exercise of the armed forces, as Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu sits nearby. Photo / AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, holds a pair of binoculars while watching a joint strategic exercise of the armed forces, as Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu sits nearby. Photo / AP
America is to bring forward the delivery of dozens of highly accurate guided tactical nuclear weapons to Europe amid escalating tensions with Moscow.
The new B61-12 thermonuclear bombs are “dial-a-yield” devices, meaning their payload can be changed. They are expected to be sent to Nato bases within weeks.
B61-12s have four yields that can be selected - 0.3, 1.5, 10 or 50 kilotons. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had a yield of about 15 kilotons.
The 12ft-long weapons feature new tailkits that allow them to be dropped from planes as a “dumb” gravity bomb, or in “guided drop” mode, with an accuracy of within 30m.
The move is part of a decade-long US$10 billion (NZ$17b) upgrade programme for several variants of B61-class unguided nuclear bombs, which first became part of the US arsenal in 1968.
Currently, the US has 100 older B61s stored at bases in European countries including Germany and Italy.
In what was seen as a move to reassure Nato allies amid Russian nuclear-sabre-rattling, the replacement process will begin in December, having previously been expected next spring.
Allies were told about the move last month, Politico reported.
The new weapons have had “all of the bomb’s nuclear and non-nuclear components” replaced or refurbished, according to the US energy department.
In addition to making them more accurate, the modifications have reduced the yield from the bombs they are replacing.
The US bombs being delivered to Europe can be dropped by a variety of aircraft including B-2 stealth bombers, and smaller warplanes like the F-15, F-35 and Tornado.
The Pentagon denied that the process of upgrading them had been affected by Kremlin posturing, or fears Russia could deploy a “dirty bomb” in Ukraine.
A Pentagon spokesman said it was “in no way linked to current events in Ukraine and was not sped up in any way”.
They added that the modernisation of B61 nuclear weapons had been “under way for years”.
The development came as Vladimir Putin dismissed accusations that Russia could use a tactical nuclear weapon as a “fuss,” and blamed the UK for initiating provocations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / AP
He accused Liz Truss of having publicly threatened Russia with a nuclear attack when she was prime minister.
Putin claimed the former prime minister had made a “folly” and was a “bit out of it,” adding: “Someone should have corrected her. Washington could have said they have nothing to do with that.”
In a long speech, Putin described the Ukrainian crisis as part of “tectonic changes in the world order that have been going on for several years now”.
He added: “We are facing a historic milestone. Ahead of us is possibly the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time crucial decade since the end of the Second World War.”
First defence review in four years
As Putin spoke, the US released its long awaited National Defence Strategy, the first in four years, and its Nuclear Posture Review.
The 80-page defence strategy said China was “the most consequential strategic competitor for the coming decades”, and that would determine how the US military is equipped and developed in the future.
There was also a strong warning for Kim Jong-un that his regime would “end” if he used a nuclear weapon.
It said: “There is no scenario in which the Kim regime could employ nuclear weapons and survive.”
The review said US nuclear weapons were a deterrence not just against nuclear, but also conventional, attack.
“This includes nuclear employment of any scale, and it includes high-consequence attacks of a strategic nature that use non-nuclear means,” the document said.
It also confirmed the cancellation of a new submarine-launched cruise missile announced when Donald Trump was president.
Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, said the US already had enough nuclear capability.
He added: “I don’t think this [the cancellation] sends any message to Putin. He understands what our capability is.”
Austin added: “We are certainly concerned about escalation, we have been so from the very beginning of this conflict. It would be the first time that a nuclear weapon has been used in over 70 years.”
On Wednesday, Putin watched the so-called “Grom” exercises by Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, involving intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and long-range bombers.
