WASHINGTON, March 30: The US military plans to detonate a 700-ton explosive charge in a test called ‘Divine Strake’ that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defence official said on Thursday.
“I don’t want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you’ll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons,” said James Tegnelia, head of the Defence Threat Reduction Agency.
Mr Tegnelia said the test was part of a US effort to develop weapons capable of destroying deeply buried bunkers housing nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
“We also have — are you ready for this - a 700-ton explosively formed charge that we’re going to be putting in a tunnel in Nevada,” he said.—AFP
