The new nuclear bomb variant developed under the administration of President Joe Biden has the potential to cause massive death and destruction but pales in comparison to some recent weapons developed by Russia and China.
The Pentagon on October 27 announced the creation of a “modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13″—the latest in a line of weapons that were first produced in the 1960s. The new bomb is expected to have a nuclear blast yield of roughly 360 kilotons, which is powerful enough to kill or seriously injure millions of people.
However, new weapons in the Russian and Chinese nuclear arsenals could be far more destructive. Both countries have recently developed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that are equipped with Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) capable of delivering multiple warheads that could destroy several cities at once.
China’s new DF-41 ICBM is capable of carrying eight warheads with a yield of 250 kilotons each. Meanwhile, Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat ICBM, or “Satan 2″—which Vladimir Putin’s government said had “assumed combat duty” in September—is able to carry 10 nuclear warheads with a massive yield of 750 kilotons each.
While the Biden administration’s B61-13 is a completely different type of nuclear weapon than the new Chinese and Russian ICBMs, the U.S. has not developed any similar weapons in recent years.
Maps generated using Nukemap—an online tool created by historian of science and nuclear technology Alex Wellerstein—show that the Russian and Chinese weapons could be significantly more destructive than the U.S. weapons.
A hypothetical B61-3 explosion over New York City would see a section of Manhattan within a half-mile radius destroyed in a fireball and cause significant destruction miles away. Over 778,000 people would be killed in such a blast, with more than 1 million injured.
In comparison, a map showing a single MIRV warhead explosion from a Russian Satan 2 reveals heavier destruction over the same target, vaporizing everything within a roughly 0.7-mile radius and causing significant damage more than 6 miles out. More than 1.13 million people would be killed in the explosion, with around 1.37 million injuries.
A single 250-kiloton MIRV warhead from a DF-41 ICBM would be slightly less destructive. A fireball would destroy everything within a radius of at least six city blocks, while damage from the blast would hit as far as 4.5 miles away. Almost 650,000 people would be killed in the explosion, with another 916,000 injured.
However, attacks from the Chinese DF-41 and Russian RS-28 ICBMs would both likely cause far more destruction than the B61-13 due to the MIRV warheads hitting multiple targets. For example, either missile has the potential to instantly transform all or most of the U.S. northeast into a nuclear wasteland.
All of the warheads—Russian, Chinese, and American—would also result in large radioactive plumes, extending for hundreds of miles and likely causing further radiation-related injuries and deaths.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Department of Defense via email on Tuesday.
While the U.S. no longer has any MIRV-equipped ICBMs, the single warhead still in service with the largest explosive yield is the U.S. B83-1, which has a yield of 1.2 megatons. The Biden administration announced last year that it plans to retire the weapon but has not yet done so.
The Federation of American Scientists, a group dedicated to reducing nuclear weapons, has said that the development of the B61-13 is likely “a political maneuver to finally get rid of the B83-1.”
Russia currently has the largest nuclear stockpile in the world, with 5,889 warheads compared to 5,244 warheads for the U.S. and 410 for China, according to the Arms Control Association.
The Russian and Chinese stockpiles are growing. The U.S. has said that its arsenal will not grow, with the new B61-13s replacing retiring models.
NEWSWEEK
