US Develops New Nuclear Warheads

The United States has announced that it has selected the design for a new generation of nuclear warheads.

The bombs will be built for the country's Trident sea-based nuclear arsenal and will replace the Cold War-era stockpile.

The government chose a design from a lab in California for the project, the department of energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in a statement on Friday.

The programme, named Reliable Replacement Warhead, will enter a new phase of development and after congressional approval the new warheads will be produced under the direction of the United States Navy.

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory would continue work on the design, costing and development of the programme.

Critics have complained that it sends the wrong message to the world, at a time when the White House is leading efforts to curb Iran and North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein was among the critics in Congress.

"The minute you begin to put more sophisticated nuclear warheads on the existing fleet, you are essentially creating a new nuclear weapon. And it's just a matter of time before other nations do the same."

"This could serve to encourage the very proliferation we are trying to prevent."

"When the US says we're going to build new nuclear weapons, and we go to Iran and say you cant have nuclear weapons at all, that is just going to be one more reason why the folks in Iran... are going to dismiss it as US hypocrisy," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org.