nuclear-news

USA considering non-nuclear missiles

US ponders conventional ICBMs, guardian.co.uk, Julian Borger, 23 April 2010, “……A new generation of long-range missiles could lessen the need for nuclear weaponsthe Obama administration are looking at options for a new class of intercontinental missiles armed with conventional warheads called Prompt Global Strike.

The weapons could reach faraway countries like, say, North Korea or Iran in as little as an hour and because they would fly in the upper reaches of the atmosphere and not in space, they could be steered all the way along their trajectory, making sharp turns if necessary to avoid awkward airspace…….

Under Obama, they are explicitly substitutes for nuclear weapons, aimed at diminishing US reliance on them. The NYT points out that it is now part of the job of General Kevin Chilton, head of Strategic Command, to talk about the conventional alternatives to Stratcom’s nuclear arsenal.

The degree to which the new conventional weapons do act as a substitute will depend largely on the guidance the White House gives to Stratcom on the basis of its new Nuclear Posture Review, US ponders conventional ICBMs | World news | guardian.co.uk

April 24, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons