A new nuclear warhead the Department of Defense announced last week that it was developing would be capable of killing millions of people with a single detonation, Newsweek reported on Monday.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the new weapon, the B61-13, a variant of the gravity bomb that was first developed during the Cold War, is intended to "strengthen deterrence of adversaries and assurance of allies" by providing the Biden administration "with additional options against certain harder and large-area military targets."
Officials said that the new bomb is intended to be capable of an explosive yield equivalent to 340 kilotons of TNT- approximately 23 times the destructive power of the one dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II.
Alex Wellerstein, a professor and historian of nuclear technology, produced modeling maps that illustrate what would be the bomb's destructive power if it was if detonated over American cities, according to Newsweek.
For example, if exploded over downtown Manhattan, an estimated 1.1 million people would be killed, while a further 2.1 million would be injured.
A detonation over downtown Los Angeles would have a far lower instant death toll, due to the relatively sprawling nature of the city, with an estimated 370,000 killed and 950,000 injuries.
Similarly, if exploded over central Chicago, the blast would cover only a small portion of the spread-out city and its suburbs, with approximately half radiating out over Lake Michigan.
It would kill more than 415,000, while another 750,000 people would be injured.
A strike on Washington D.C., would result in a smaller loss of life, with an estimated 360,000 losing their life, as well as some 613,000 injured.
But it would also destroy some of the nation's most significant symbols, with the White House, the U.S. Capitol building, the Supreme Court, and the Lincoln Memorial all leveled.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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