UK Chief of the Defence Staff Adm. Tony Radakin, also said there is only a “remote” chance that Russia attacks the UK — a projection that is also true for NATO as a whole — while Moscow understands that a retaliatory response would be overwhelming, “whether conventional or nuclear.”
SLCM-N was a priority of the first Trump Administration that Biden tried and failed to cancel. Now Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe has to figure out how to actually build it — without compromising ballistic missile modernization or new hypersonics.
Modeling and simulation get an AI upgrade for more realistic training and improved autonomous platforms.
Despite a resolute defense of Trident by the UK MoD, the latest misfire will likely raise questions about the stability of the UK nuclear deterrent.
As officials described how they'll spend billions on America's nuclear arsenal and presented rosy outlooks, California's Rep. John Garamendi retorted, "The fact of the matter is every single one of these systems are behind schedule and over budget, every single one of them."
The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, Columbia-class ballistic submarine and B-21 bomber could all face delays under a yearlong continuing resolution, service officials said.
The improved W88 Alt 370 warhead comes a year late and millions over budget.
As aircraft shrink, threats expand, and technology accelerates, aircraft engines must iterate along with the threats.
HASC calls on Pentagon for "near- and long-term plans and options to ensure resilience" of the nuclear command, control and communications network, including requirements for survivability and protection of the supply chain.
America's nuclear deterrent is aging, with a half-dozen replacement programs on the horizon. But the young men and women who serve, Gen. John Hyten said, are better than ever: “They love this country. They want to defend this country. They go to work every day. They’re amazing — they’re smarter than we were, by far. They get motivated differently so you have to lead them differently, but their passion is just the same.”
HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Just calm down and read the document. That, in essence, is the administration’s response to critics who call its new nuclear strategy irresponsible and dangerous. In fact, deputy undersecretary for policy David Trachtenberg said over and over here this morning, the Nuclear Posture Review is fundamentally conservative (with a small “c”). The 2018 […]
CORRECTED: Minuteman Was First Solid-Fueled ICBM; Jon Wolfsthal’s name The first solid-fueled InterContinental Ballistic Missile, Minuteman 1, was deployed some 55 years ago on the same day that President Kennedy announced that Soviet missiles were being deployed in Cuba. At the end of the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy credited the newly deployed Minuteman ICBM as his “ace […]
Six companies have already signed up for a new flight-test program to mature their autonomy software.
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, […]
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 […]
When I studied politics in London, one of my lecturers was a fellow named Neil Kinnock, a Welshman who went on to lead the Labour Party. Kinnock, though he loved Wales and clearly understood the pride his countrymen took in their little patch, never joined the then-dominant Welsh nationalist group, Plaid Cymru. Kinnock knew being part […]
CAPITOL HILL: “Failure to launch” isn’t a metaphorical concern when you work on nuclear weapons. That’s why the director of the Navy’s euphemistically named Strategic Systems Program (SSP) is a worried man. What has Vice Adm. Terry Benedict worried is something neither he, nor the Navy nor the entire Defense Department directly control. It’s the […]