America is too far behind to catch up. The funds to modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal will be too little, too late, and is just a token offering to ‘look busy’ or prepared. After the funding is in place, it still takes years, if not a decade to go from the development to deployment stage. What they’re proposing now might not even account for inflation or go over budget in project finance.
The Soviets could also now shut down the U.S. if they wanted to, but it’s too early since there’s still a chance of damaging retaliation from whatever little capability still remains up the U.S. sleeve. The remaining means of retaliation still need to be sought out and crippled.
It’s beyond the point of no return. By the time 2017 comes around, America might find itself in checkmate — as if the easy disabling of an American warship by Russia over the Mediterranean wasn’t enough of a hint.
If you want insight on what it might look like before a Russian strike upon America, here might be a good idea and start: Spetsnaz’s First World War from the book “Spetsnaz. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS“.
Russia is in possession of strategic nuclear weapons far more advanced than the United States, and it will continue to lead the game with its new generation of missiles, according to a comprehensive report from the Russian political newspaper, PRAVDA. Indeed, if World War 3 erupts, Russian Vladimir Putin will win hands down, the report suggested.
The report titled Russia Prepares Nuclear Surprise For NATO, claims that Russia was able to amass its massive nuclear power because the U.S. had been dismissive and neglectful of achieving innovations in decades after winning the Cold War. Specifically, the U.S. had closed the possibility of developing high-precision long-range weapons that could eradicate enemies even without coming to direct contact. But Russia never stops innovating despite much criticism and the more accepted notion that the country is weak and the west is superior. At this point, Russia has “long-range cruise missiles of a new generation that will soon be deployed on submarines of the Black Sea Fleet and missile ships of the Caspian Flotilla,” PRAVDA stated.
And not only that – Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons are far more superior to that of NATO’s, the report said. NATO’s member countries have only 260 tactical weapons. The U.S. has 200 bombs with an overall capacity of 18 megatons – located in Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey. France has 60 atomic bombs, as outlined by the report. “Russia, according to conservative estimates, has 5,000 pieces of different classes” of tactical nuclear weapons “from Iskander warheads to torpedo, aerial and artillery warheads,” the report from PRAVDA highlighted.
The report seemed to have solid basis. Russia’s plans of sending long-range bombers to the Gulf of Mexico are being widely reported. Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu declared that Russia has to maintain its military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, including the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. This included sending long-range bombers as part of the drills. Russia will also be sending more troops in Crimea. Shoigu noted that the deployments are in response to the “fomentation of anti-Russian moods on the part of NATO and reinforcement of foreign military presence next to our border,” CNN reported.
…
However, Pentagon retaliates with Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel announcing a proposal of an additional $1.5 billion to the $15 billion a year worth of maintenance to U.S.’ nuclear arsenals. He admitted that US Air Force and Navy were beleaguered with scandals over the years. These scandals resulted to the neglect of the country’s nuclear programmes, rendering some infrastructure outdated and maintenance deteriorated, The Washington Post reported.
Full article: Nuclear War: Russia Shocks US With Tactical Weapons, Pentagon Retaliates (International Business Times)
Global Geopolitics 