The Sandian National Laboratories of the United States, together with the US Air Force, tested the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bomber (“Impact Eagle”) for the possibility of carrying B61-12 thermonuclear bombs. “The crew’s work, the functioning of the suspension devices, the conditions for dropping the model of the bomb and the functioning of the weapon were shown during the event,” the media quoted B61-12 bomb development program manager Stephen Samuels. The tests gave "exceptional confidence" in the suitability of using bombs on these machines.

Although it sounds quite formidable, to call the “Shock Eagle” an innovative miracle weapon does not allow the fact that the machine has existed since the 1980s (although, of course, in a modernized form). Bombs are somewhat newer. The B61 series itself dates back to the 1960s, but in the 12th version of the bomb partially acquired the properties of missiles. They are not just thrown from a bomb carrier, after which they fall in accordance with the laws of physics - the new modification autonomously plans many kilometers towards the target, if necessary, taxiing. Which is more convenient for the crew.

The United States intends to deploy B61-12 bombs at European bases - in Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands. This is also understandable. The flight range of the F-15E Strike Eagle is about 1900 km, so that formidable weapons cannot be based in the United States. And in the European theater of operations is possible.

Of course, this does not fit very well with the logic of limiting nuclear weapons. The idea of ​​detente them. L.I. Brezhnev was to make the decision on the use of nuclear weapons at the highest level, and preferably only at that level. Because even a single nuclear mushroom can launch the whole Doomsday machine - such an exchange of nuclear strikes, after which there will be no stone on the stone.

But it’s one thing when fatal decisions are made by the leaders of the great powers, who still have a red telephone. It’s another matter when everybody can make a fatal decision ... With such decentralization, the likelihood of uncontrolled development of events increases significantly - which the fathers of detente feared.

But Leonid Ilyich has not been with us for a long time, other times have come, and the long-sought-after thought of American strategists is busy with how to overcome the balance of fear, paralyzing the will to fight. How to use nuclear weapons, but without fanaticism, and most importantly - without retaliation for unacceptable damage. To be like in a hooligan ditty:

We walked, knocked out

Shoals from under the windows,

Will they condemn us

For such trifles?

Moreover, the B61-12 can be equipped with a weak charge - only half Hiroshima (10 kt). This is not the 50-megaton “Kuzkina mother” named after N.S. Khrushchev. Here, however, a problem arises from the joke about Sofochka and the Prince of Wales: it remains to persuade the potential adversary that he does not take this excessively seriously. And this can be difficult.

But they probably expect that someday they will persuade. So the trials of the Shock Eagles will continue.

Now, however, new problems have arisen. Revolutionary perestroika in the United States is in full swing, and the degradation (that is, decentralization) of the union, including the allied power departments, cannot but impress.

When thirty years ago revolutionary perestroika befell our country, the whole world was interested in the fate of the USSR’s nuclear arsenals. Because all this was very good, but the uncertainty with nuclear weapons confused.

Then it was possible to keep the situation under control - not a single nuclear warhead left in an unknown direction. Various Felgenhauers, however, wrote violent passions - but it was the Felgenhauers, they have such a job.

If things overseas go in the same direction, then you will have to think not so much about shock eagles with new testicles, but about protecting the cellars where these testicles are stored. For the enraged American liberal daily expands our ideas about the boundaries of the possible.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the publisher.