It appears Donald Tump is not satiated with flexing his military muscle in Syria nor with threatening to strike North Korea.

He’s continuing to up the ante. While nobody was paying attention, the United States Air Force just conducted its first test of a brand new nuclear bomb.

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced the news:

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) and the U.S Air Force completed the first qualification flight test of the B61-12 gravity bomb March 14 at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. The non-nuclear test assembly was dropped from an F-16 based at Nellis Air Force Base. The test evaluated both the weapon’s non-nuclear functions as well as the aircraft’s capability to deliver the weapon. This event is the first of a series that will be conducted over the next three years to qualify the B61-12 for service. Three successful development flight tests were conducted in 2015. […]The B61-12 consolidates and replaces four B61 bomb variants in the nation’s nuclear arsenal. The first production unit is scheduled to be completed by March 2020.

President Trump has pledged to modernize the US nuclear forces, though he has also expressed concern at the danger posed by nuclear weapons.

Though there was no actual nuclear detonation in this test – that would violate the nuclear test ban treaty – this will definitely be seen by US strategic opponents Russia and China as a provocative move, and a reason to push ahead with modernization of their own nuclear arsenals.

It is also sure to be noticed by another country currently in American crosshairs – North Korea.

It is highly ironic that this test comes exactly at the time when Washington is threatening a military attack on North Korea over worries it may be preparing its own nuclear test.

A perfect case of the pot calling the kettle black or rather, the world’s most aggressive state calling others a threat to global security.

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