U.S. Army Is Bringing Back Land-Based Missiles With A Vengeance In A Post-INF World

[jpak]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sebastienroblin/2019/08/07/army-will-soon-begin-testing-precision-strike-missiles-for-a-post-inf-world/#3634697325e1

On August 2, Russia and the United States completed their withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Force Treaty over 31 years after it was signed by Reagan and Gorbachev. As a result, the militaries of both nations are free to deploy land-based cruise and ballistic missiles that can strike targets between 310 and 3,400 miles away—potentially with nuclear warheads.

Russia will have a head start in this form of warfare. It maintains a large force of at least 13 brigades equipped with truck-launched Iskander tactical ballistic missiles—a far more advanced successor to the Scud and Tochka. A few of these units alternately deploy 9M729 cruise missiles with a range in violation of INF, and more units could easily integrate extended range weapons.

China, never a party to the INF treaty, today fields around 1,400 short- to -intermediate range missiles.

But for several years, the Pentagon has been cooking up plans for its own land-based missiles which could have their range extended following the treaty’s collapse.

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