Pentagon orders to make nuclear triggers superfast

MUMBAI: Making activation of nuclear triggers superfast, a recent Pentagon directive has ordered that nuclear weapons “should be delivered with a time objective of two minutes or less” once the message is received.

The order has come into force at a time when the US has accelerated its efforts to ready by 2026 the deadly 360 kiloton B61-13 gravity nuclear bomb, which is 24 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima.

The directive issued by the chairman of joint chiefs of staff establishes guidelines to exchange organizational messages within and among US department of defence, intelligence community, various agencies, and US allies.

The directive is part of an unclassified document called Organisational Messaging Service dated March 14, 2025. Coming under “Emergency Action Message” category, the directive says, “highest message priority processed by Organisational Messaging Service to support Nuclear Command, Control and Communication operations with a time objective of two minutes or less.”

Earlier, the time was longer.

Klip News, an American news organisation founded in 2024 and focusing on international and national security issues, revealed the unclassified document on Tuesday.

Sandia National Laboratory, which is developing the B61-13 bomb, says its development was in response to the current security environment. “It will strengthen deterrence of adversaries and assurance of allies and partners by providing the President with additional options against certain hardened and large area military targets.”