Navy Deploys Low-Yield Nuclear Warhead on Sub For First Time

[underpants]

I don’t know if this has gotten much attention here. Heard a great discussion about it on Democracy Now this morning.

Navy Deploys Low-Yield Nuclear Warhead on Sub For First Time

The Pentagon said it has deployed a new submarine-launched nuclear warhead for the first time as the Navy seeks to counter Russia’s war chest of smaller tactical nukes.

The Pentagon’s confirmation Tuesday follows a controversial move last week to ease restrictions on the use of land mines, which are banned by more than 160 nations. The Trump administration in recent weeks has been setting the foundation to boost U.S. weapon arsenal in a race against Russia and China.

The W76-2 may have a yield of less than 10 kilotons, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in January. By comparison, the “Little Boy” bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan during World War II yielded roughly 15 kilotons.

“The idea that ‘low yield’ nuclear weapons bolster deterrence is based on the illusion of usability,” Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO in the Obama administration, said on Twitter today. “But a decision to use nuclear weapons of any kind is the most existential decision any leader can make; none have since 1945. We need to keep it that way.”



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-04/pentagon-deploys-new-lower-yield-nuclear-warhead-on-submarine

[spanone]

1. The idea of trump and nuclear weapons should keep every American up at night

[underpants]

3. A couple of points from Democracy Now

Amy Goodman said that advisors to Trump have to consider his personality when presenting him options. The person she spoke with has been in the military for 30+ years and has never had to deal with that factor until now.

The hit on Soleimani is seen as correction by Trump for failing (pump faking) a response when Iran downed our drone.

One thing they didn’t discuss is that Trump would love to leave a nuke strike as his legacy. Tough guy stuff like the useless dropping of the MOAB early in his disaster.

[spanone]

4. That is my fear. It's not a stretch at all that he would leave a nuke strike as his legacy.

Grrrrr

[sl8]

2. More:

Letter from 18 Senate Democrats regarding the warhead (PDF) :
(Senators Baldwin, Booker, Brown, Cardin, Durbin, Feinstein, Gillibrand, Harris, Hirono, Klobuchar, Markey, Merkley, Murray, Sanders, Schatz, Hollen, Wyden, and Warren)

https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter%20to%20NDAA%20Conferees%20re%20Nuke%20Provisions%208.20.2019%20vF.pdf

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From https://fas.org/blogs/security/2020/01/w76-2deployed/
(Federation of American Scientists)

US Deploys New Low-Yield Nuclear Submarine Warhead

Posted on Jan.29, 2020 in Nuclear Weapons, Russia, United States by Hans M. Kristensen
By William M. Arkin* and Hans M. Kristensen

The US Navy has now deployed the new W76-2 low-yield Trident submarine warhead. The first ballistic missile submarine scheduled to deploy with the new warhead was the USS Tennessee (SSBN-734), which deployed from Kings Bay Submarine Base in Georgia during the final weeks of 2019 for a deterrent patrol in the Atlantic Ocean.

The W76-2 warhead was first announced in the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) unveiled in February 2018. There, it was described as a capability to “help counter any mistaken perception of an exploitable ‘gap’ in U.S. regional deterrence capabilities,” a reference to Russia. The justification voiced by the administration was that the United States did not have a “prompt” and useable nuclear capability that could counter – and thus deter – Russian use of its own tactical nuclear capabilities.

[...]

During the Fiscal Year 2019 budget debate, Democrats argued strongly against the new low-yield W76-2, and opposition increased on Capitol Hill after the 2018 mid-term elections gave Democrats control of the House of Representatives. But given the relatively low cost of the W76-2, and the fact that it was conveyed as merely an “add-on” to an already hot W76 production line, little progress was made by opponents. Reluctantly accepting production of the warhead in the FY 2019 defense budget, opponents again in August 2019 tried to block funding in the FY 2020 defense budget arguing the new warhead “is a dangerous, costly, unnecessary, and redundant addition to the U.S. nuclear arsenal,” and that it “would reduce the threshold for nuclear use and make nuclear escalation more likely.” When the Republican Senate majority refused to accept the House’s sense, Democrats caved.

Just a few months later, the first W76-2 warheads sailed into the Atlantic Ocean onboard the USS Tennessee.

* William M. Arkin is a journalist and consultant to FAS

[...]

More at link.

[Blues Heron]

5. The clock ticks closer to midnight