The United States’ planned overhaul of its nuclear weapons strategy may not be sufficient to take on the threats posed by Russia and China, a top Pentagon official has admitted.
Richard Johnson, who oversees nuclear policy, said the current plans could have to be enhanced to reflect the work being undertaken by Moscow and Beijing.
“We are now in a world where we’re facing multiple nuclear competitors, multiple states that are growing, diversifying and modernising their nuclear arsenals and also, unfortunately, prioritising the role that nuclear weapons play in their national security strategies,” he told a think tank event.
His comments came after the White House said it would not change the country’s nuclear posture after Russia lowered its own threshold for a nuclear strike.
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, made the move in response to a decision by Washington to permit Ukraine to strike Russian soil with US-supplied Atacms missiles.
The United States has been modernising its own nuclear deterrent for some time, which includes plans to deploy nuclear weapons at an airbase in the United Kingdom.
New bombs being produced
Washington has ensured there are more nuclear air-dropped gravity bombs and nuclear-capable submarines ready at any one time.
Newer variants of the B-61 bomb are also being produced as part of the 2022 “Nuclear Posture Review”.
“To be prepared for the 2030s, we have to modernise our nuclear forces, the nuclear command and control, and the associated infrastructure that will allow us to be flexible and adjust over time as new challenges arise, whether that’s new threats or potential changes or delays in our modernisation,” Grant Schneider, vice deputy director for strategic stability at the Joint Staff, said.
Nato, the US-led military alliance, has also been reviewing its own nuclear strategies in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago.
The work being undertaken by the alliance includes the Netherlands, a non-nuclear country, making its F-35 fighter jets available to Nato’s nuclear deterrent.
Talks are regularly held between the alliance’s officials to establish whether its nuclear deterrent stands up to the tests it faces from the likes of Russia and China.
Moscow to carry out more hypersonic tests
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said on Friday that Moscow would carry out more tests of the hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile in “combat conditions,” a day after firing one on Ukraine.
“We will continue these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and character of the security threats posted to Russia,” Putin said in a televised meeting with military chiefs.
The Kremlin boss also ordered the missile, which flies at speeds of Mach 10 – 10 times the speed of sound – to be put into serial production. Russia is developing similar advanced systems, he added.
“We need to begin serial production. The decision… has in effect been taken,” Putin said, praising the “particular strength of this weapon and its power”.
“The weapon system that was tested yesterday is another faithful guarantee of Russia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he added.
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