“THE F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS SLATED TO BE ARMED WITH THE B61 NUCLEAR BOMB AS EARLY AS 2020, BUT COULD CARRY THE WEAPON SOONER.” -Lt General Jack Weinstein, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration
By MICHAEL MARROW March 08, 2024 The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter has been operationally certified to carry the B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bomb, marking a significant milestone as it becomes the first 5th generation aircraft, and the first new platform since the early 1990s, to achieve such status. This certification, completed months ahead of the scheduled […]
BY ALFRED MEYER MARCH 27, 2023 1:01 PM While Tom Cruise heroically flies fighter jets in the film Top Gun: Maverick, which was vying for an Oscar for Best Film this year, two communities in the United States—Burlington, Vermont, and Madison, Wisconsin—are contending with the dangers caused by the basing of F-35s in residential neighborhoods. […]
By Michael Marrow October 6, 2022 The Air Force has certified an initial design for the F-35A to carry nuclear bombs, Inside Defense has learned, putting the service months ahead of its January 2023 goal. The Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center approved the certification on Sept. 29 for the platform to carry the B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bomb, […]
By Nina Berman December 17 2021 THE SOUND of the U.S. military’s latest generation of warplanes is quite literally deafening. The vibration shakes your insides. Conversation stops. Stress floods your body. And just when you think it’s over, another jet, and another and another, roars above rooftops, until it feels as though the sky is […]
By: Melissa Cronin May 5, 2021 Since my husband and I moved to North Hero Island last November, I wake each day well-held by the still morning. Tranquility is our neighbor. With a population of a little more than eight hundred, uninvited noise is a rare occurrence. That can’t be said for the greater Burlington […]
By: Smriti Chaudhary November 24, 2020 The U.S. Air Force along with Sandia National Laboratories conducted the first-ever test with the B61-12 bomb featuring the F-35A fighter jet. A mock B61-12 was used to strike in the Nevada desert, from a height of about 10,500 feet, with “full-weapon systems demonstrations designed to increase confidence the […]
By: Diana Stacy Correll for Millitary Times, Sept. 12, 2019 Two retired Air Force officers were arrested this week after a sit-in protest at Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office in Burlington, Vermont. The pair demanded a delay in the arrival of F-35 fighter jets at the Vermont Air National Guard base at Burlington International Airport, according […]
By: Mike Dougherty for VTDigger, Sept. 13, 2019 The first two F-35s in the Vermont Air National Guard’s new fleet of fighter jets are scheduled to arrive in Burlington by next Friday. But a coalition of protesters who have fought the basing for years continues to press the military to change its mind. NBC5 first […]
By: Aidan Quigley for VTDigger, Sept. 12, 2019 BURLINGTON — Four more F-35 protesters were arrested at Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Burlington office Wednesday night, following the arrest of two demonstrators Monday night. Kara Paige, Carmen Sargent, Roddy O’Neil Cleary and Rabbi Joshua Chasan were arrested for unlawful trespass after refusing to leave the senator’s office Wednesday evening. […]
By: Cat Viglienzoni for WCAX, Sept 10, 2019 BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) Two veterans concerned about F-35 jets coming to Vermont were arrested Monday after police cited them for trespassing during a sit-in at Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office in Burlington. Police cited Rosanne Greco and Roger Bourassa after they sat in the senator’s office for a couple of hours […]