Clock is ticking on aging B61 bomb, StratCom chief says

The oldest atomic bomb in the U.S. arsenal desperately needs to be upgraded before its aging electronics go bad early in the next decade, the head of the Offutt-based U.S. Strategic Command says.

Gen. C. Robert Kehler has been telling anyone who will listen that the clock is ticking on the B61 bomb. It was designed in the 1960s to be dropped from NATO's strategic bombers and tactical fighters, thwarting a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.

“The B61 life-extension program is absolutely necessary,” Kehler said in an interview with The World-Herald. “Much has been deferred. Now we don't have the luxury of waiting.”

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