July 16, 2016
The B-61 Nuclear Bomb
Designed in the early 1960s and by far the oldest nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal, the B-61 is the designation for a family of bombs that weigh around 700 pounds, are 13.5 inches wide (not including the fins) and just a bit under 12 feet long. It is a variable yield weapon which can have the amount of 'splody it provides adjusted from 1/3 of a kiloton to between 80 and 340 kilotons depending on the exact model, though as part of an upgrade being undertaken now the maximum yield is to be reduced to 50 kilotons in the near future. It can also be used as a depth charge.
The weapon is on loan to certain NATO countries, Italy(around 90), Germany (20), Belgium(10-20) and...er...Turkey, which has about 90.
In what is most certainly unrelated news.....the latest news from the coup in Turkey is that the Bosphorus is closed and there is some sort of naval action going on. F-16s seem to be launching raids on the Presidential Palace and there appears to be a near 50/50 split in public opinion between those who are cheering or opposing the ouster of the increasingly Islamist Turkish president and the Military coup, which, depending on who is talking is either securing the country, or getting routed.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:18 AM
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I have to admit I'm completely lost regarding who's who in this coup attempt in Turkey. I had previously been under the impression that the current government has been more secular, and was coming under fire for trying to normalizing relations with Israel, which had the more fundamentalist factions upset. But what I'm reading now is indicating the opposite, at least somewhat.
Posted by: Ben at Sat Jul 16 13:42:42 2016 (VPo/J)
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