EU Nukes

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First an army, now EU nuclear weapons on the horizon.

The New York Times is reporting that Eurocrats are considering obtaining nuclear weapons as they feel they can no longer rely on protection from America. Support for the proposal seems to come largely from the Germans.

Crusading former Pentagon chief says nuke danger is growing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Late in a life lived unnervingly near the nuclear abyss, William J. Perry is on a mission to warn of a “real and growing danger” of nuclear doom.

The 88-year-old former defense secretary is troubled by the risks of catastrophe from the very weapons he helped develop. Atop his list: a nuclear terror attack in a major U.S. city or a shooting war with Russia that, through miscalculation, turns nuclear. A terrorist attack using a nuclear bomb or improvised nuclear device could happen “any time now – next year or the year after,” he said in an interview with reporters earlier this month.

Former U.S. official urges Pentagon to skip buying new ICBMs

Again, America’s enemies are arming and modernizing while America wants to continue suicidally disarming. This brings into play serious doubts what side the previous administrations (as well as current) are working for, as this is beyond incompetence or ignorance.

This is the same defense secretary who worked under the Clinton administration. This is the same Clinton administration who purposely sold American supercomputers to China via the U.S. Department of Commerce and is largely responsible for the Asian giant’s threatening rise. One can only wonder what has been given to Russia since then.

 

Former Defense Secretary William Perry on Thursday called for the Pentagon to skip replacing its aging stockpile of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), arguing that U.S. nuclear-armed submarines and a new long-range bomber program would provide sufficient deterrent value.

Perry, a close friend and mentor of the current defense secretary, Ash Carter, said the United States was on “the brink of a new nuclear arms race,” that would be extremely expensive, and the ICBMs were not necessary as a deterrent force.

Former LANL scientist sentenced to five years for attempt to sell nuclear secrets

Bringing a bizarre case of would-be espionage to a close, former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist P. Leonardo Mascheroni was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday for trying to pass classified nuclear weapons information to a man he believed to be a Venezuelan government official.

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The couple’s actions as described by federal agents often sounded like a James Bond movie plot. Leonardo Mascheroni, now 80, was alleged to have told an FBI officer masquerading as a Venezuelan agent that he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb in 10 years and 40 missiles with nuclear warheads in 20 years.

Putin promises new weapons to fend Western threats

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will counter military moves by the U.S. and NATO with an array of new nuclear and conventional weapons, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday as the military successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine.

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Putin accused the West of using the crisis in Ukraine to reinvigorate NATO, warning that Moscow will ponder a response to the alliance’s decision to create a rapid-reaction “spearhead” force to protect Eastern Europe.

The statement appeared to signal that the Russian leader is determined to pursue a tough course in the face of more Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis that has sent Russia-West relations plummeting to their lowest point since the Cold War.

US Will Cut Deployed Nuke Missile Force by 50

And then there was 400 launch-ready on land — not counting the 336 (soon to be 280) from sea and those that can be deployed by 93 designated planes (soon to be 60). Russia is also nowhere near under the 700 deployed as the article states/whitewashes. A simple search through Google or even here will pull up articles that show they’re both modernizing and increasing their strategic nuclear force. Although not mentioned in the article, the same goes for China.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will keep its current force of 450 land-based nuclear missiles but remove 50 from their launch silos as part of a plan to bring the U.S. into compliance with a 2011 U.S.-Russia arms control treaty, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The resulting launch-ready total of 400 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles would be the lowest deployed ICBM total since the early 1960s. The decisions come after a strong push by members of Congress from the states that host missile bases – North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana – to not eliminate any of the silos from which the missiles would be launched. Fifty silos will be kept in “warm” status – empty of missiles but capable of returning to active use.

Russia test-fires ICBM amid tension over Ukraine

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said it had successfully test-fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) on Tuesday, with tensions running high over its military intervention in Ukraine’s Crimea region.

A U.S. official said the United States had received proper notification from Russia ahead of the test and that the initial notification pre-dated the crisis in Crimea. The Russian Defence Ministry could not be reached for comment.

Saudi Arabia May Go Nuclear Because of Obama’s Iran Deal

Last month, America’s top Iran negotiator Wendy Sherman had some bad news for ambassadors from America’s Arab allies. In a meeting with envoys from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf states, Sherman said that any bargain with Iran would likely leave Tehran, the Gulf states long-time enemy, with the capacity to enrich uranium, according to U.S. officials briefed on the encounter.

Sherman regularly briefs these allies after diplomatic talks with Iran, but in recent weeks those conversations have been different. While most of America’s Middle East allies—with the exception of Israel—have publicly supported the current Iran negotiations, behind the scenes, envoys from the region have expressed grave concerns that Iran could be left with a break out capacity to make the fuel for a nuclear weapon at a time of their choosing.

India tests nuclear capable missile with range as far as Beijing

BHUBANESWAR: India successfully test-fired for a second time a nuclear-capable missile on Sunday that can reach Beijing and much of Europe, bringing a step closer production of a weapon designed to strengthen its nuclear deterrent.

“The test was successful,” said Ravi Kumar Gupta, spokesman for the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). “It hit the target in a predefined trajectory. It met all the mission objectives”

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India is trying to keep up with China’s growing military strength and wants to have a viable deterrent against its larger nuclear-armed neighbor.

Roberts: Japan shown U.S. military facilities to confirm ‘nuclear umbrella’

Washington welcomes visits to its nuclear weapons facilities by Japan as a way to provide “firsthand knowledge” of the U.S. nuclear posture and reassurances of its nuclear deterrent, a former senior U.S. defense official says.

“The nuclear umbrella is a centerpiece of the U.S.-Japan security alliance,” Bradley Roberts, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy, said in a written response to The Asahi Shimbun’s questions in early July.

“It is necessary and appropriate that the government of Japan have firsthand knowledge of the U.S. nuclear posture, including both policies and capabilities,” Roberts said.

UK must keep Trident nuclear deterrent – David Cameron

The UK would be “foolish” to abandon Trident in the face of the potential threat of nuclear attack from North Korea and Iran, David Cameron has said.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the country still needed the “ultimate weapon of defence”.

The prime minister said the nuclear danger had “increased” since the end of the Cold War.

Bear Bombers Over Guam

It goes without saying as to why the U.S. need not suicidally reduce its nuclear weapons stockpile. Granted, the Russian bombers were older models from the Cold War era. However, it gets the job done in the probing of American defenses and reactionary maneuvers to learn the targeted country’s plans.

What’s more, it makes for a great dry run for the more advanced fighter planes the neo Soviet Union possesses that America hasn’t really gone up against and knows less about. Today’s times in the world are very dangerous, yet Americans are too busy following the Kardashians or the Super Bowl to care. So long as the American Shopping Mall Regime, propped up only by hot air, can still buy something, why worry?

Russian nuclear bombers circle Guam

Two Russian nuclear-armed bombers circled the western Pacific island of Guam this week in the latest sign of Moscow’s growing strategic assertiveness toward the United States.

The Russian Tu-95 Bear-H strategic bombers were equipped with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and were followed by U.S. jets as they circumnavigated Guam on Feb. 12 local time—hours before President Barack Obama’s state of the union address.

The Nation’s ICBM Force: Increasingly Creaky Broken Missiles

As the Air Force begins to dust off plans for the Minuteman III ICBM replacement, a stark choice faces the service.

On one hand, the time has come to replace them. On the other, the Air Force is strapped for cash, victim to a perfect storm of bureaucratic bloat, several rounds of defense cuts, and a fighter fleet exhausted by war and age.

Disarming America

State Department advisory board urges deeper nuclear force cuts including unilateral reductions

A State Department board of experts is calling for steep cuts in U.S. nuclear forces beyond the New START treaty limits and recommends unilateral or informal reductions to avoid expected Senate ratification battles.

“Treaties are an important but not always necessary method for reducing nuclear arsenals,” the new report by the International Security Advisory Board says. “The United States has reduced its nuclear arsenal without negotiating a new treaty in the past—both unilaterally and reciprocally with Russia.”

North Korea ‘carries out fresh missile equipment tests’

Since the embarrassing flop in April, the communist regime appears to have carried out at least two tests of large motors needed for rockets and worked on a launch platform, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said.

The institute examined commercial images of the Sohae satellite launch station between April and September and found that 34 fuel tanks had been moved and vegetation appeared to be burned, next to a flame trench stained with an orange residue.