The first production unit of the B61-13 gravity bomb has been completed about a year ahead of schedule, marking a major milestone for Sandia National Laboratories and the broader U.S. nuclear security enterprise.
Sandia serves as the lead systems integrator and the design agency for the B61-13's nonnuclear components. Much of the new system's configuration builds on the B61-12, which completed production in late 2024.
"The reason it was possible to move so quickly is the similitude between the two bombs, the B61-12 and the B61-13," said Lysle Serna, a Sandia manager who began working on the B61-12 in 2020. "We were able to leverage a lot of B61-12 qualification data as well as the Pantex assembly and disassembly processes and procedures."
The first production unit was completed at the Pantex Plant in May, just 13 months after Congress approved funding for the program.
"We definitely would not have been able to go this fast had we not been leveraging a significant portion of the design and especially the qualification data from the B61-12 to ensure the weapon is safe and secure," said Arthur Gariety, the weapon systems lead at Sandia for the B61-13. "Had those similarities not been there, we wouldn't have been able to achieve the first production unit as quickly as we did."
The team also used creativity and innovation in the nuclear deterrence product realization process to responsibly push boundaries for early delivery.
Many Sandia employees transitioned from the B61-12 program to the B61-13, bringing years of experience and expertise, along with tireless work ethic.
"I'm beyond proud of this team. This team has been working at double speed since 2018 to solve technical challenges. They always find a way to succeed," Serna said. She added that the B61-13 program greatly benefited from strong collaboration across many Sandia organizations, as well as with partners at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
External collaboration
Early hardware deliveries from the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Kansas City National Security Campus also helped accelerate the schedule by ensuring critical components arrived at the Pantex Plant in time for assembly.
"It was a highly collaborative process across the nuclear security enterprise," Gariety said. "We worked across site boundaries to solve challenges together. When everyone gets on the same page, we can do great things to support the mission."
Although formal program funding authorization was received in April 2024, Sandia and its partners had started feasibility, cost and schedule studies as early as 2022, resulting in a head start to the program, with official activities starting in Phase 6.4, Production Engineering.
Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended a ceremony at the Pantex Plant in May to diamond stamp the B61-13 first production unit. The diamond stamp signifies the unit's quality and readiness for deployment to the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
"The remarkable speed of the B61-13's production is a testament to the ingenuity of our scientists and engineers and the urgency we face to fortify deterrence in a volatile new age," Wright said. "It was my honor to stamp the first completed unit at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, where all the efforts of NNSA's labs, plants and sites culminated in this amazing milestone."
Completion of the B61-13 first production unit is the result of close collaboration among Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, the Kansas City National Security Campus, the Pantex Plant, Y-12 National Security Complex, Savannah River Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the U.S. Air Force.
The B61-13 will offer increased yield compared to the B61-12, while retaining the modern safety, security and accuracy features of the B61-12.
The B61-13 will not increase the overall number of weapons in the U.S. stockpile. The number of B61-12 units manufactured was reduced by the planned B61-13 build quantity to hold the total combined build in line with original plans.
The program now shifts focus to the Design Review and Acceptance Group and transitioning to full-rate production.
