military planned to accelerate the deployment of the Mod 12 in Europe. This drew criticism from the Russian foreign minister Alexander Grushko, who accused the US government of "reducing the nuclear threshold" with the weapon's increased accuracy. The Super Hornet is not listed as a future platform. B61 Mod 13 The NNSA Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan anticipates Phase 1 development for the B61 Mod 13 Life Extension Program (LEP) beginning in 2037 with first production of the weapon in 2050. W61 Earth Penetrator Warhead A W61 Earth Penetrator Warhead (EPW) with a yield of was developed for the AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile and the MGM-134 Midgetman small ICBM. The weapon entered Phase 1 initial development in January 1985 and phase 4 production engineering in September 1992 before being cancelled in December of that year. In the Advanced Cruise Missile role, the weapon was to replace aging B53 bombs, but after the W61 cancellation the role was filled by the B61-11 bomb. Pits A declassified technical report on the automation of pit handling at Pantex indicates that the B61-2 and B61-5 share a common pit design, as do the B61-3, B61-10 and W85. The B61-0 and B61-4 do not share a pit with any other weapon. As the B61-7 was a retrofit of the B61-1 and the B61-11 was a retrofit of the B61-7, they presumably share a common pit. Cost In May 2010 the National Nuclear Security Administration asked Congress for $40 million to redesign the bomb to enable the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II to carry the weapon internally by 2017. This version is designated Mod 12. The four hundred Mod 12 bombs will be used by both tactical aircraft (such as the F-35) and strategic aircraft (such as the B-2) and the Tail Subassembly (TSA) will give them Joint Direct Attack Munition levels of accuracy, allowing the fifty kiloton warhead to have strategic effects from all carrying aircraft. However, refitting the 400 weapons is now expected to cost over $10 billion. The Mod 12 tail assembly contract was awarded to Boeing on November 27, 2012 for $178 million. Boeing will use their experience with the Joint Direct Attack Munition to yield JDAM-equivalent accuracy in a nuclear bomb. This contract is only the first part of the billion-dollar expense of producing and applying the tail kits, over and above the $10 billion cost to refurbish the warheads. The