US Air Force and Energy Department personnel load a pair of unarmed B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs onto an F-35 at Hill Air Force Base on Aug. 19 for testing.

The Energy Department and Air Force in August successfully carried out the first tests dropping unarmed B61-12 nuclear gravity bombs from an F-35A fighter, the laboratory in charge of overseeing nuclear weapons said this week.

Sandia National Laboratories said in a Thursday release that it, along with the National Nuclear Security Administration, staged multiple flight tests at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada from Aug. 19 to Aug. 21, with the assistance of personnel and aircraft from Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

These were so far the only tests of the B61-12 from an F-35, Sandia said, and marked a major milestone in ensuring the ai

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