NEW YORK, Oct 26 (RT) - The United States has decided to speed up plans to deploy an upgraded B61-12 air-dropped gravity bomb to Europe that should arrive there this December, Politico reported on Thursday, citing a diplomatic cable and two people familiar with the issue.

According to Politico, US officials said at a closed-door NATO meeting in Brussels that the fielding of an improved bomb, originally scheduled for the spring of 2023, had been moved up to December.

"Given the rising volume and scale of Russia’s nuclear rhetoric, a subset of allies requested continued consultations at NATO to ensure continued readiness and consistent messaging," says the cable, which was written to be distributed throughout Pentagon and State Department officials.

Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder told Politico that the United States was not "going to discuss details of our nuclear arsenal" and said that modernization of B61 nuclear weapons had been underway for years. Ryder said the initiative to replace older weapons with upgraded ones was "part of a long-planned and scheduled modernization effort" and was "in no way linked to current events in Ukraine and was not sped up in any way."

However, Politico writes, Washington’s decision to swap out weapons at storage facilities in Europe for potential use comes amid heightened tensions between the West and Russia.

The United States first tested its B61-12 gravity bomb on July 1, 2015, and the upgraded nuclear weapon entered production in December 2021. The US National Nuclear Security Administration said the modernization would help extend the bomb’s service life by at least 20 years.

Russia has repeatedly warned that these US plans were openly provocative and running counter to Washington’s claims that it has been seeking a complete nuclear disarmament.