It is unclear how many nuclear weapons are assigned to the heavy bombers. Each Tu-160 can carry up to 40,000 kilograms (about 44 tons) of ordnance, including 12 nuclear AS-15B air-launched cruise missiles. The Tu-95MS can carry six to 16 cruise missiles, depending on configuration.
But, in 1982, the introduction of the AGM-86B nuclear-tipped variant of the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) would allow B-52s—and eventually B-1Bs—to launch nuclear strikes at long standoff Is a MOAB bigger than a nuke? By way of comparison, one of the US military’s biggest conventional weapons, the GBU-43/B MOAB (“Massive Ordnance Air Blast”) device, has a yield of around 11 tons. “It was about 10 times bigger than the biggest conventional weapon, and 10 to 20 times smaller than the early nuclear weapons,” he told BBC News. November 10, 2023 / 3:10 PM EST / CBS/AP. The B-21 Raider took its first test flight on Friday, moving the futuristic warplane closer to becoming the nation's next nuclear weapons stealth bomber The U.S. Air Force has released images of a B-1 bomber carrying an inert AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile cruise missile on a pylon under its fuselage for the first time. This was6 days ago · The plane can carry eight air-launched cruise missiles or 24 SRAMs. It can also carry up to 24 nuclear bombs or 84 500-pound (227-kg) conventional bombs. With a weapon load of 37,000 pounds (16,800 kg), the B-1B can fly 4,600 miles (7,400 km) without refueling.The Defense Department announced that the United States will pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13, pending Congressional authorization and appropriation., The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and is the only country to have used them in combat, with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 nuclear tests, and tested many long-range nuclear weapons delivery systems. [Note 1]