Four months later, and just as concerns over North Korea's provocative launches have send shockwaves across global markets - again - the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced another successful flight test of B61-12 gravity nuclear bombs in Nevada. The second qualification flight test for the nuclear bomb was carried out by the NNSA and the US Air Force.

According to the NNSA press release, two B61-12 gravity bombs (without a nuclear warhead) were dropped from F-15 fighter jets on August 8 at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, and were designed to test the "non-nuclear functions and the aircraft's capability to deliver the weapon." These tests are part of a series over the next three years to qualify the B61-12 for service. As we noted at the time, the first qualification flight test occurred in March.

"The B61-12 life extension program is progressing on schedule to meet national security requirements," said Phil Calbos, acting NNSA deputy administrator for Defense Programs. "These realistic flight qualification tests validate the design of the B61-12 when it comes to system performance."