Air Force awards Lockheed $1 billion for new ICBM reentry vehicle
The new Mk21A reentry vehicle will be mounted atop the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile and will carry an updated nuclear warhead known as the W87-1.
This Is Not The ICBM You Are Looking For; Detailed Analysis Of North Korean Missile
North Koreans are showmen: large 16-wheeled off-road trucks carrying missiles through the streets of Pyongyang are all about showing the ‘American Bastards’ that North Korea has credible road-mobile ICBMs. The ‘Young General,’ as Kim Jong-Un likes to style himself, has even claimed those ICBMs can threaten San Diego, Texas and Washington DC. American leaders have […]
North Korea Threat Worsening; No Time to Rest: MDA
CAPITOL HILL: The Missile Defense Agency is still basking in the glow of last month’s successful shoot-down of an ICBM target but it will not get complacent in the face of North Korea‘s steady rounds of provocative missile tests, MDA Director Vice Adm. James Syring assured the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces yesterday. […]
Missile Defense Test ‘Realistic,’ Syring Insists
PENTAGON: Yesterday’s $244 million missile defense test didn’t just hit an IBCM-like target for the first time in the history of the system: It hit a cutting-edge IBCM modeled on future North Korean weapons, complete with decoys to confuse defenders. “It actually replicated — without getting into classified details — an operational scenario that we’re […]
GMD Missile Defense Hits ICBM Target, Finally
WASHINGTON: Two days after North Korea’s latest missile launch, the US conducted a successful test of its homeland missile defense system for the first time in almost three years. Codenamed FTG-15, today’s event was also the system’s first test ever against an “ICBM-class” target, as opposed to lesser surrogates, the Missile Defense Agency announced. The painful […]
Build Limited Missile Defenses Against Russian, Chinese Strikes: Experts
WASHINGTON: It’s time to build up missile defenses against limited attacks from Russia and China, leading experts gingerly suggest in a forthcoming study. While we can’t stop an all-out nuclear barrage, they say, we can and should reduce the temptation for Moscow or Beijing to risk a small strike. Such limited nuclear strikes are an […]
Renew and Strengthen America’s Strategic Deterrent
Many Americans are asking whether the three legs of the nuclear triad are still relevant. My answer to this question is an emphatic, yes. Today’s discussion should not be about “if” we recapitalize the triad, but instead how to enhance the execution of the strategic deterrence mission. Since the end of the 1950s, the United […]
How Trump Should Handle Russian Nuclear Talks
If the Trump administration wants to negotiate an arms control treaty with Russia, it must meet several preconditions. The Times of London reports that then President-elect Donald Trump signaled he would consider a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Russians. He was quoted as saying, “For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and […]
Why Mattis Should Support Long Range Stand-Off Nuclear Cruise Missile
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Defense Secretary James Mattis expressed doubts over plans to buy the nuclear Long Range Stand-Off cruise missile (LRSO). “I need to look at that one.” Mattis said, “My going in position is that it makes sense, but I have to look at it in terms of its deterrence capability.” While Mattis should take […]
‘Let It Be An Arms Race’: Our Nuclear Adversaries Have Already Started
President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter on December 22 to say “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” He later called MSNBC TV host Mika Brzezinski and reportedly said, “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them […]
New ICBMs Could Cost Way Above $85B: CAPE’S Morin
CAPITOL HILL: The Pentagon’s official estimate of $85 billion to replace the Minuteman III ICBM — already 37 percent above the Air Force’s $62 billion figure — is itself a low-end estimate, the head of Cost Assessment & Program Evaluation says. CAPE almost never offers alternative estimates of a program’s cost, said director Jamie Morin, […]
SecAf James Defends GBSD, LRSO
WASHINGTON: One thing grew clear as Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James spoke this morning: the service has huge bills now and even bigger ones coming down the track, especially when you include nuclear modernization. If she could, Lee told the audience at the New America think tank, she would “rewrite history” so that the F-35A, which […]
How Many B-21s? Answer Pending, Says AF Global Strike
CAPITOL HILL: Gen. Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, made it pretty clear he’d like more than the 100 B-21 bombers to which the service is currently committed. He would probably like close to half again that many. Rand told a Mitchell Institute breakfast that the US currently has 156 bombers “in our […]
If Boomers Get Special Account, So Should B-21, ICBMs: SecAF James
WASHINGTON: Oops. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James sounded a tad peeved and seemed to pretty much put the kibosh on plans to buy two replacements for the A-10 Close Air Support (CAS) plane. Why? “You just put your finger on it. Where do we get the money,” she told me at a DefenseOne event this […]
Nuke Missile Collaboration Now Up To Air Force: Navy VADM Benedict
WASHINGTON: In theory, the Navy and the Air Force could save money and reduce risk by using common, proven components on both services’ nuclear missiles. In practice, Air Force decisions in the coming months will “make or break the effective implementation of commonality,” said Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, head of the Navy Strategic Systems Programs. “I […]