An AUKUS announcement is “imminent,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said. “We’re in conversation with both the UK and the US around the manner in which that is ultimately announced.”
By Colin ClarkFor US nuclear stocks, Jill Hruby of the Department of Energy said, “this is the most demanding moment in the history of our nation’s nuclear enterprise since the Manhattan Project.”
By Theresa Hitchens“What we’re looking at here, it raises some questions, I think, about their intent,” a senior defense official told reporters.
By Valerie Insinna“The question is,” asks Jenny Town of the Stimson Center, “how to step down from this ledge before an accident escalates into something much more dangerous?”
By Colin ClarkAmbiguity marks China’s management of its nuclear forces and how it discusses them and uses them to deter. Unlike the US and Russia, Dean Cheng said “the Chinese believe ambiguity and doubt promote deterrence.”
By Colin ClarkAfter conducting the upcoming Nuclear Posture Review, the Biden administration has chosen to end the sea-launched cruise missile program, a senior Pentagon official said.
By Valerie InsinnaSTRATCOM head Gen. Chas Richard said he’s “very concerned” about “opportunistic aggression” with regards to China and Russia. He also noted the government has whiffed on its plutonium pit production goal.
By Aaron MehtaThe new B61-12, with replaced or refurbished components, will be used by the F-15, F-16 and B-2, among others.
By Aaron Mehta“We’ve entered into the next big phase, what we call ‘CDR season,'” Greg Manuel, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Strategic Deterrent Systems division, told Breaking Defense.
By Theresa Hitchens“It is going to take us 10 to 15 years to modernize 400 silos that already exist. And China is basically building almost that many overnight. So the speed of difference in that threat is what really concerns me most,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs says.
By Colin Clark“There is a reason, however, that David slung his stone into the forehead of Goliath rather than his musculature. Without a head connected to a body, a nuclear force is useless,” the new study by the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network states.
By Theresa Hitchens
“Biden is sending a clear message: he will take on nuclear issues only as long as they do not undermine his top legislative priorities,” write Tom Collina and Doreen Horschig.
By Tom Z. Collina and Doreen Horschig