Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons

Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons PDF Author: Edgar M. Vaughan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons

Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons PDF Author: Edgar Vaughan
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781478380603
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
More than six decades after Hiroshima and almost two since the end of the Cold War, the US nuclear weapons stockpile is undergoing an extensive and expensive life-extension program to ensure the continued safety, security, and reliability of the legacy weapons well into the future. The current stockpile does not meet post-Cold War national security challenges. Today's challenge is to sustain and modernize the US nuclear weapons infrastructure with minimal risk and cost. Lt Col Ed Vaughan advocates that to mitigate the risks and address the highly uncertain future security environment, the recapitalization of US nuclear weapons should begin immediately.

Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons

Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons PDF Author: Edgar M. Vaughan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons

Recapitalizing Nuclear Weapons PDF Author: Air University Air University Press
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781081416911
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 74

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Book Description
More than six decades after Hiroshima and almost two since the end of the Cold War, the US nuclear weapons stockpile is undergoing an extensive and expensive life-extension program to ensure the continued safety, security, and reliability of the legacy weapons well into the future. The current stockpile does not meet post-Cold War national security challenges. Today's challenge is to sustain and modernize the US nuclear weapons infrastructure with minimal risk and cost. Lt Col Ed Vaughan advocates that to mitigate the risks and address the highly uncertain future security environment, the recapitalization of US nuclear weapons should begin immediately.

Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Weapons PDF Author: United States. Government Accountability Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Deterrence (Strategy)
Languages : en
Pages : 11

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Book Description
"Since the 1960s, the United States has deployed nuclear weapons on three types of strategic delivery vehicles collectively known as the strategic triad. The triad comprises the sea-based leg (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), ground-based leg (intercontinental ballistic missiles), and airborne leg (nuclear-capable heavy bombers). As a result of arms control agreements and strategic policies, the number of U.S. nuclear weapons and strategic delivery vehicles has been reduced substantially; however, the strategic triad has remained intact. DOD and the Department of Energy are planning to invest significant resources to recapitalize and modernize the strategic triad in the coming decades. The departments projected in 2015 that the costs of maintaining U.S. nuclear forces for fiscal years 2016 through 2025 would total $319.8 billion, and DOD expects recapitalization and modernization efforts to extend into the 2030s. GAO was asked to review DOD's analysis of the decision to retain all three legs of the strategic triad. This report describes the processes DOD used in supporting that decision. GAO reviewed documentation and interviewed officials from DOD and the military services on the key reviews DOD carried out from 2009 to 2014 -- including the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review -- in analyzing its strategic force structure"--Preliminary page.

Challenging Nuclear Abolition - Analysis Contrasting Nuclear Modernization with the Goal of President Obama to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, Complete List of All U. S. Nuclear Warheads

Challenging Nuclear Abolition - Analysis Contrasting Nuclear Modernization with the Goal of President Obama to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, Complete List of All U. S. Nuclear Warheads PDF Author: U. S. Air Force (USAF)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781980461494
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Nuclear weapons policy has recently gained national exposure by the fact that the president declared a desire to reduce the number of nuclear weapons with a final goal of eliminating them all together. The other factor that gave yeast to the issue was the pronouncement by former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz; former secretary of defense William Perry; former senator Sam Nunn; and other luminaries that the nation should support elimination of nuclear weapon all together. Dr. Lowther breaks down the elements of the debate between "abolitionists" on the one hand, and the "modernizers" on the other, who have opposing views of the utility of nuclear weapons. What makes the issue complex is that there is clearly a value to nuclear weapons, and total elimination tends to be a far off, if attractive goal. In the meantime the nation has to decide how to deal with our reality which not only has national and international deterrent implications, but is also a matter of science. In the interim the nation must modernize its weapons because they are getting old. We must also update our delivery systems and even decide whether we need three systems: airplanes, missiles and submarines. Finally, we need to refresh our aging scientist and engineering base. We cannot easily replace those who put together our current arsenal. A generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States stands at a crossroad. One path leads to a reinvigoration of the nuclear enterprise, while the other promises an end to nuclear weapons. Those that advocate the recapitalization of the nuclear enterprise fall into the "modernizer" camp. They believe that America's nuclear arsenal prevented the United States and Soviet Union from engaging in a large-scale conventional conflict during the Cold War. Deterrence was successful because the consequences of its failure were too terrible to risk. Thus, the modernizers advocate a renewed emphasis on the nuclear enterprise, design of new warheads, and the development of new delivery platforms. For modernizers, capability and credibility are inextricably linked, and both are an important element of deterrence. And, perhaps most importantly, modernizers do not believe that the end of the Cold War fundamentally changed the nature of power, persuasion, and the use of violence. Today, just as during the Cold War, nuclear weapons remain a vital element of US national security. Those advocating that the nation follow a different path are the "abolitionists." Often found in academia, Washington-based lobbying organizations, and the remnants of the peace movement, abolitionists are focused on eliminating nuclear weapons completely. They suggest that these weapons are too destructive and could fall into the hands of someone willing to use them. Thus, the United States must lead the way in their reduction and elimination. As abolitionists suggest, the world will be a safer place without them.

Challenging Nuclear Abolition

Challenging Nuclear Abolition PDF Author: Adam Lowther
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
ISBN: 9781478384878
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
A generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States stands at a crossroad. One path leads to a reinvigoration of the nuclear enterprise, while the other promises an end to nuclear weapons. Those that advocate the recapitalization of the nuclear enterprise fall into the “modernizer” camp. They believe that America's nuclear arsenal prevented the United States and Soviet Union from engaging in a large-scale conventional conflict during the Cold War. Deterrence was successful because the consequences of its failure were too terrible to risk. Thus, the modernizers advocate a renewed emphasis on the nuclear enterprise, design of new warheads, and the development of new delivery platforms. For modernizers, capability and credibility are inextricably linked, and both are an important element of deterrence. And, perhaps most importantly, modernizers do not believe that the end of the Cold War fundamentally changed the nature of power, persuasion, and the use of violence. Today, just as during the Cold War, nuclear weapons remain a vital element of US national security. Those advocating that the nation follow a different path are the “abolitionists.” Often found in academia, Washington-based lobbying organizations, and the remnants of the peace movement, abolitionists are focused on eliminating nuclear weapons completely. They suggest that these weapons are too destructive and could fall into the hands of someone willing to use them. Thus, the United States must lead the way in their reduction and elimination. As abolitionists suggest, the world will be a safer place without them. This monograph challenges the logic of nuclear abolitionists, addressing each of their arguments and highlighting the flaws. It also suggests that nuclear weapons are as relevant today as they were during the Cold War. They continue to force America's adversaries to move down the spectrum of violence, choosing means that do not present an existential threat to the nation.

Doctrine for Joint Operations

Doctrine for Joint Operations PDF Author: United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Unified operations (Military science)
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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The Future of the U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force

The Future of the U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force PDF 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.

The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy

The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy PDF Author: Matthew Kroenig
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190849185
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
For decades, the reigning scholarly wisdom about nuclear weapons policy has been that the United States only needs the ability to absorb an enemy nuclear attack and still be able to respond with a devastating counterattack. So long as the US, or any other nation, retains such an assured retaliation capability, no sane leader would intentionally launch a nuclear attack against it, and nuclear deterrence will hold. According to this theory, possessing more weapons than necessary for a second-strike capability is illogical. This argument is reasonable, but, when compared to the empirical record, it raises an important puzzle. Empirically, we see that the United States has always maintained a nuclear posture that is much more robust than a mere second-strike capability. In The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy, Matthew Kroenig challenges the conventional wisdom and explains why a robust nuclear posture, above and beyond a mere second-strike capability, contributes to a state's national security goals. In fact, when a state has a robust nuclear weapons force, such a capability reduces its expected costs in a war, provides it with bargaining leverage, and ultimately enhances nuclear deterrence. This book provides a novel theoretical explanation for why military nuclear advantages translate into geopolitical advantages. In so doing, it helps resolve one of the most-intractable puzzles in international security studies. Buoyed by an innovative thesis and a vast array of historical and quantitative evidence, The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy will force scholars to reconsider their basic assumptions about the logic of nuclear deterrence.

Report of the defense science board task force on nuclear weapon effects test, evaluation, and simulation

Report of the defense science board task force on nuclear weapon effects test, evaluation, and simulation PDF Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428982515
Category : Nuclear weapons
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description