The United States Department of Defense plans to decommission the world's most powerful thermonuclear bomb.
What is known
The bomb will be decommissioned as part ofupdated National Defense Strategy of the United States. The reasons were limited potential in modern warfare, obsolescence and expensive maintenance. The Pentagon plans to create new means to destroy targets at great depths.
B83-1 is a variable gravity projectilepower, which was developed in the late 70s of the XX century at the Livermore National Laboratory. The thermonuclear bomb entered service in 1983. It has a mass of 1100 kg, and a maximum yield of 1.2 megatons, which is approximately 80 times the power of the Little Boy atomic bomb, which was dropped on Hiroshima in the summer of 1945.
The United States planned to remove the B83-1 fromweapons six years ago. Although in fact it happened two years ago. The last bomber to lose a B-52H Stratofortress was in 2020. In addition to him, the carriers of the B83-1 were the B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit strategic bombers, as well as the F-15 Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F / A-18A Hornet fighters. By the way, the bomb has a parachute-braking system that will allow the aircraft to go away before the explosion.