Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Deterrence (Strategy)
Languages : en
Pages : 8

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Book Description

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Deterrence (Strategy)
Languages : en
Pages : 1

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Book Description
Since the 1960s, these objectives have been met by the U.S. nuclear triad through forces operating at sea, on land, and in the air. Today's nuclear triad consists of: 1. 14 ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) armed with 240 submarine-launched ballistic missiles 2. 400 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) 3. 60 nuclear-capable heavy bomber aircraft capable of delivering gravity bombs and cruise missiles. Each leg of the triad provides unique and complementary attributes. Collectively, the triad seeks to ensure that no adversary believes it could launched a strategic attack that eliminates the United States' ability to respond and inflict unacceptable damage--for any reason, under any circumstances.

Author: Frank Klotz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781977407603
Category : Intercontinental ballistic missiles
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
Since the late 1950s, the United States has fielded a Triad consisting of air-, sea-, and land-based nuclear delivery systems. After decades of service, major components of all three legs are now nearing the end of their scheduled service lives. Several modernization programs are well underway, but the decision to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a new system, called the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), has catalyzed a debate over the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security policy and the composition and costs of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. This Perspective presents an overview of the principal arguments publicly advanced for and against continuing the GBSD program of record. Intended to assist Air Force officials' decisionmaking, it describes the role of the Triad in U.S. nuclear weapons policy, surveys the current strategic landscape, and outlines the major nuclear modernization programs of record, as well as describing and assessing the major objections related to fielding a new ICBM.

Author: U. S. Military
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781549884870
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
This unique book reproduces sixteen important government documents, reports, and studies dealing with American strategic nuclear forces, including the elements of the nuclear triad (missiles, bombers, and submarines), arms control issues and treaties, and modernization plans. Documents include: U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues (2015) * U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues (2013) * Counterforce Issues for the U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces * Considerations for a U.S. Nuclear Force Structure below a 1,000-Warhead Limit * Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Nuclear Capabilities * Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2014 to 2023 * Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments * The National Military Strategy of the United States of America 2015 * Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2015 to 2024 * Air Force Global Strike Command "To Deter and Assure" Strategic Master Plan 2014 * Task Force Report: Assessment of Nuclear Monitoring and Verification Technologies * U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues (2009) * U.S. Nuclear Weapons: Changes in Policy and Force Structure * ICBMs - Their Relevance to U.S. Security and the United States Air Force in the 21st Century * Culture Clash: Bomber Nuclear Operations in a Post-Cold War World * Nuclear Strategy in the New World Order. Introduction * Background: The Strategic Triad * Force Structure and Size During the Cold War * Force Structure and Size After the Cold War * Current and Future Force Structure and Size * Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles: Recent Reductions and Current Modernization Programs * Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) * Peacekeeper (MX) * Minuteman III * Minuteman Modernization Programs. * Future Programs * Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles * The SSGN Program * The Backfit Program * Basing Changes * Warhead Loadings * Modernization Plans and Programs * The Ohio Replacement Program (ORP) Program * Bombers * B-1 Bomber * B-2 Bomber * B-52 Bomber * Future Bomber Plans * Sustaining the Nuclear Weapons Enterprise * Issues for Congress * Force Size * Force Structure * The Cost of Nuclear Weapons Since the early 1960s the United States has maintained a "triad" of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles. The United States first developed these three types of nuclear delivery vehicles, in large part, because each of the military services wanted to play a role in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. However, during the 1960s and 1970s, analysts developed a more reasoned rationale for the nuclear "triad." They argued that these different basing modes had complementary strengths and weaknesses. They would enhance deterrence and discourage a Soviet first strike because they complicated Soviet attack planning and ensured the survivability of a significant portion of the U.S. force in the event of a Soviet first strike. The different characteristics might also strengthen the credibility of U.S. targeting strategy. For example, ICBMs eventually had the accuracy and prompt responsiveness needed to attack hardened targets such as Soviet command posts and ICBM silos, SLBMs had the survivability needed to complicate Soviet efforts to launch a disarming first strike and to retaliate if such an attack were attempted, and heavy bombers could be dispersed quickly and launched to enhance their survivability, and they could be recalled to their bases if a crisis did not escalate into conflict. According to unclassified estimates, the number of delivery vehicles (ICBMs, SLBMs, and nuclear-capable bombers) in the U.S. force structure grew steadily through the mid-1960s, with the greatest number of delivery vehicles, 2,268, deployed in 1967.

Author: Lauren Caston
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833076264
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
The authors assess alternatives for a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) across a broad set of potential characteristics and situations. They use the current Minuteman III as a baseline to develop a framework to characterize alternative classes of ICBMs, assess the survivability and effectiveness of possible alternatives, and weigh those alternatives against their cost.

Author: Adam B. Lowther
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear arms control
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
"Some past and present members of the military leadership hold a view that supports the nuclear arsenal. Senior leaders have given a number of public speeches and interviews outlining what it will take to maintain and modernize the most advanced and secure nuclear arsenal in the world. A key aspect of the general position held by supporters of the nuclear arsenal includes retaining the triad and replacing aging platforms. In the ongoing debate over the appropriate size and purpose of the nuclear arsenal, abolitionists--clearly in the ascendency--make six basic arguments that would ultimately lead to creation of a nuclear monad before reaching total disarmament. Admittedly, each of these arguments has some element of truth; they do not, however, represent a complete understanding of the strategic role played by nuclear weapons in ensuring the sovereignty of the United States or the specific contribution of each leg of the triad. Although each of the abolitionists' arguments deserves a detailed refutation, a focus on the relevance of the triad must suffice."--Abstract.

Author: Blake Sullivan
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656855358
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 10

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Basics and General, grade: C+, , language: English, abstract: Nuclear weapons enable a state to inflict a lot of damage at once to another state, if the other state does not have the ability to strike back. This is why the Nuclear Triad is so important, as it gives states a chance to launch nuclear weapons from land, sea and air. If you knew that your enemy had a chance to launch a nuclear missile back, would you still go ahead with the launch? No one in their right mind would attack a nuclear country with nuclear weapons, as it is just a disaster waiting to occur. Although there are some very obvious flaws with this theory, the benefits out weigh the risk. As nuclear weaponry becomes more common, it is just starting to prove over time how nuclear weapons really are a tool for peace and not weapons used for mass destruction.

Author: Amy F. Woolf
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437920438
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 27

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Book Description
Contents: (1) Introduction; (2) Background: The Strategic Triad: Force Structure and Size During the Cold War; Force Structure and Size After the Cold War; Future Force Structure and Size; (3) Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles: Ongoing Plans and Programs: (a) Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles: Peacekeeper; Minuteman III; Minuteman Modernization Programs; Future Programs; (b) Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles: The SSGN Program; The Backfit Program; Basing Changes; Warhead Issues; Modernization Plans and Programs; Future Programs; (c) Bombers: B-1 Bomber; B-2 Bomber; B-52 Bomber; Future Bomber Plans; (4) Issues for Congress: Force Size; Force Structure; Safety, Security, and Management Issues. Illustrations.

Author: U. S. Military
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781521134658
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
This unique study analyzes four myths about American nuclear weapons and the nuclear deterrence they provide. America is embarked on a quest for a world without nuclear weapons, but we live in a world not yet safe from war and threats of war. Hence, as long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States must maintain a safe, secure, and effective arsenal--both to deter potential adversaries and to assure US allies and other security partners that they can count on US security commitments. Our nuclear posture communicates to potential nuclear-armed adversaries that they cannot use nuclear threats to intimidate the United States, its allies, or partners or escalate their way out of failed conventional aggression. The United States Air Force (USAF) will continue to maintain its responsibilities as steward of two of the nation's three legs of the strategic nuclear triad and the nation's associated nuclear command, control, and communications infrastructure.Since the Cold War, three states (India, Pakistan, and North Korea) have developed nuclear-weapon capabilities, while Iran remains on course to do so. Moreover, ongoing nuclear modernization programs in China and Russia point to the continued importance of nuclear deterrence and assurance for our allies and partners. Some countries now have military doctrines that include potential first use of nuclear weapons in a militarized crisis, and these countries regularly exercise those doctrines. These threats require the United States to seriously consider its responsibility to educate and advocate for the commitment and investment needed to sustain nuclear deterrence capabilities in a dangerous world.

Author: Colin S. Gray
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555873318
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
The author takes issue with the complacent belief that a happy mixture of deterrence, arms control and luck will enable humanity to cope adequately with weapons of mass destruction, arguing that the risks are ever more serious.