Pentagon brass universally support the US developing a new generation of conventional intermediate long-range missiles, and the Army is rushing to meet the challenge as the INF Treaty approaches its likely Aug. 2 demise.

The US could develop more than a dozen different land-based weapons for $7 to $12 billion, thinktank CSBA estimates.

A new Army unit will hack and jam enemy networks and provide targeting data for both long-range missiles and missile defense.

There are times and places in the history of war in which improvements in firepower force anyone in range to take cover instead of advancing, as machineguns and howitzers did a century ago on the infamous Western Front. The fundamental difference today is the width of the killing zone would be measured, not in hundreds or thousands of yards, but in hundreds or thousands of miles.

“Long-range precision fires… would provide us the capability (to) either, for example, support the Air Force by suppressing enemy air defenses at hundreds upon hundreds of miles or support the Navy by engaging enemy surface ships at great distances as well,” said Army Secretary Mark Esper. But those examples are two distinctly different missions, each most relevant to a different theater of war.

INF proponents emphasize the risk of nuclear weapons. But, despite its name, the treaty bans a wide range of conventional weapons as well — and it’s non-nuclear, precision-guided missiles that have changed how war is actually waged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States a new arms race would provoke a “quick and effective” Russian response and threatened NATO’s members. Democrat leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives predict an increased risk of “an unconstrained nuclear arms race.” Is it true? Has President Trump fired the first shot in a Cold… Keep reading →

The long-awaited Pentagon report, which outlines the weapons systems capable of being modified for fielding in a post-INF world, has hit Capitol Hill.

We explore the possibilities, from cutting-edge hypersonics and 1,000-mile cannon to repackaged Tomahawk cruise missiles and updated Pershing ballstic missiles.