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"The Pentagon has completed initial draft plans for several emerging low-yield sea-launched nuclear weapons intended to deter potential attackers and add new precision strike options to those currently possible with the existing arsenal.
While final requirements for both a low-yield sea-launched nuclear cruise missile and long-range sub-launched low-yield warhead are still in development, Pentagon officials tell Warrior Maven the process has taken several substantial new steps forward."
A Trident missile with a low-yield warhead "would offer a yet-to-exist long-range low-yield sea launched weapon. The existing Trident II D5 has a massive 100-kiloton yield, bringing massive destructive power to large swaths of territories – entire cities and well beyond."
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday June 06 2018, @02:34PM (6 children)
The US military has the means to slaughter every human on the planet in a matter of hours. They also have the means to slaughter the heads of state of every government on the planet, also in a matter of hours. And every government on the planet knows that. That means there's no real need to deter anybody any further than the Pentagon already has.
As for precision-strike options, the US military can drone-strike anywhere, quickly, so again there's nothing really to be gained here.
So, what it sounds an awful lot like to me is "Please give my friends billions to go play with their toys out in the ocean."
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 06 2018, @03:40PM
Looked from the other end, that presents a problem for potential targets, and those of them who are commanding larger scientific effectives are probably commissioning research projects for solving that problem, and *that* presents yet another problem to US military, so development of better weapons must be kept in pipeline constantly.
(Score: 2) by Bobs on Wednesday June 06 2018, @04:08PM (3 children)
My uninformed speculation is that they are talking about the novel, naval, low-yield nukes to provide options and deterrence to China.
Did something similar with respect to Soviet tanks in Europe.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday June 06 2018, @06:11PM (1 child)
Exactly.
The only reason to go after low-yield nukes is that Russia has already developed and stock-piled several versions of them and has been talking loudly about lowering the threshold for their use.
(US has some rather ancient versions of these too, but has never deployed them in the field as they were designed mostly to stop a massive Soviet armored invasion of Europe.)
The US has never had a believable deterrent to a very small tactical nuke. Nobody believes the US would use a 100-kiloton response (taking out entire cities) to a small battle field nuke used to take out a US forward Airbase, or a Kim Jung Un mini-nuke dropped on Guam.
The Russian Hypersonic vehicles [cnbc.com] (currently unstoppable) can deliver a small nuke any where in the world. First use of such would probably be non nuclear, just to judge world opinion. If I were Ukrane, I'd be very worried.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday June 06 2018, @07:40PM
Right: They'd just drone-strike or bomb all of the places Kim Jong Un is likely to be, simultaneously, from their nearby bases in Korea and Japan.
As for the Chinese, the biggest threat in their arsenal is cutting off trade to the US, and/or dumping their investments in US T-Bills and US dollars in general. And that's a threat you can't make go away by blowing things up.
And regarding the Russians, if they provoke anything in Ukraine, then the US will have no reason to keep the gloves on in Syria. Also, an attack on their ally Iran is now in a lot more likely, because the next step after Syria would be to take over Iran and then push into the Caucuses to get control over Russia's oil and gas supplies. All of which can be done with the weapons currently available to the US.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday June 06 2018, @10:40PM
You left out navel nukes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 07 2018, @01:32PM
In the NAVY!