MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Calling the nuclear mission “the bedrock of our security, and the highest priority mission of the Department of Defense,” Secretary of Defense Ash Carter today offered a full-throated defense of the need to modernize all three legs of the nuclear triad.
Critics of both America\u2019s nuclear strategy and Pentagon spending have attempted to find ways to change the modernization plan, perhaps by cancelling one leg of the triad entirely. But Carter made it clear in his speech that he feels such plans would put America at risk at a time when Russia, China and North Korea, among others, are looking to modernize their arsenals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If we don\u2019t replace these systems, quite simply they will age even more, and become unsafe, unreliable, and ineffective. The fact is, most of our nuclear weapon delivery systems have already been extended decades beyond their original expected service lives,” Carter said. “So it\u2019s not a choice between replacing these platforms or keeping them \u2026 it\u2019s really a choice between replacing them or losing them. That would mean losing confidence in our ability to deter, which we can\u2019t afford in today\u2019s volatile security environment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also hit at critics of the nuclear program\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which include former Secretary of Defense William Perry, widely seen as a mentor for Carter\u00a0\u2014\u00a0who argue that investing further into nuclear weapons will increase the risk of atomic catastrophe in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
“None of these investments is intended to change the nature of deterrence or how it works; after all, no one can. And not only are they not intended to stimulate competition from anyone else; we know they aren\u2019t having that effect, because the evidence is to the contrary,” Carter said. “We didn\u2019t build anything new for the last 25 years, but others did\u00a0\u2014\u00a0including Russia, North Korea, China, India, Pakistan, and, for a period of time, Iran\u00a0\u2014\u00a0while our allies around the world\u00a0\u2014\u00a0in Asia, the Middle East, and NATO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0did not.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carter expressly called out Russia for its “recent nuclear saber-rattling” that “raises serious questions” about Moscow\u2019s commitment to the global post-Cold War nuclear posture. In contrast, the secretary said China “conducts itself professionally in the nuclear arena, despite growing its arsenal in both quantity and quality.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the efforts to modernize the ICBM, bomber and submarine fleets garner major attention, there is a second tier of vital nuclear programs \u2013 including the command-and-control structure, the B61-12 warhead upgrade, and the Long Range Standoff (LRSO) nuclear cruise missile \u2013 that are also part of the modernization effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notably, Minot is home to several hundred Air Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs), which provide the US stand-off, plane-launched nuclear strike capability and which would be replaced with the LRSO. Those weapons are increasing in age, with one maintainer telling reporters here that the Pentagon is exploring the use of 3-D printing to help compensate for out-of-production parts vital to the weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The LRSO has become a popular target for Congress and the nonproliferation community, with the argument being made that the capability is duplicative to conventional stand-off weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Speaking at least week\u2019s Air Force Association conference outside Washington, Gen. Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, defended the need for the LRSO program to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The deterrent value of it; the options that it gives the president,” Rand responded when asked why the weapon was needed. “The ability not to penetrate enemy airspace, not to fly directly to the target. I don\u2019t believe we should put 100 percent of our eggs all in one basket and solely rely on stealth, so this gives you a long-range strike capability.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rand then presented a broader justification for the triad as a whole, one in line with Carter\u2019s comments Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We say the ICBM land-based missile gives us incredible responsiveness. We are on 24\/7 alert. The air leg gives us tremendous flexibility. You can generate them, you can show that you\u2019re generating, they can take off, and you can recall. You can\u2019t recall a sea or a land based missile. Once it comes out of the hole you ain\u2019t getting that bad boy back,” Rand said. “The sea-based gives you tremendous survivability. Those are options that I think the president has found, every president since President Eisenhower, has found those to be compelling reasons to keep the triad.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The secretary defended the need for the triad modernization on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"},"4":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"},"7":{"categories":["news"],"primary_category":"news"}}},"categories":[11,19,48],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3378],"class_list":["post-36194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global","category-pentagon","category-the-americas"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NFTAD6L52FH3LDQQSWY5OCRIDM","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2016\/09\/26\/carter-nuclear-triad-bedrock-of-our-security\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n