WASHINGTON: Russia is pressing ahead with a new nuclear missile which Moscow claims is a part of a renewed effort to bolster the country’s missile defense systems. This new intercontinental ballistic missile, nicknamed “Satan” by Western analysts, will sport a 100-ton warhead and replace the Voevoda-class missile in the Russian nuclear arsenal, according to recent… Keep reading →

Washington: They are big. They were bad. But their time is past so the U.S. government has very carefully pulled to pieces the biggest nuclear weapons we ever built. Taking apart the B-53 “is a major accomplishment that has made the world safer and for which everyone involved should be proud,” said Deputy Secretary of… Keep reading →

For a century now, “unilateralism” has been a dirty word in international politics. It evokes the raw, interest-based resort to self-help that drives nations to compete in arms races, build fortifications, and even go to war. But unilateralism need not carry the stigma it has borne since the early 20th century (and which deepened after… Keep reading →

National Harbor: Air Force Secretary Mike Donley pledged today to keep all three legs of America’s nuclear triad, arguing that the rise of new nuclear powers makes the air, sea and land legs even more important. “We must maintain the nuclear triad,” he said, drawing a tiny smattering of applause — the only spontaneous applause… Keep reading →

UPDATED Washington: DARPA, the Pentagon’s advanced weapons division, lost contact with a test version of a new weapon designed to hit any target around the world in less than an hour. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. You can also catch us on… Keep reading →

Washington: When you oversee the U.S. nuclear weapons enterprise, there are a lot of things that can keep you up at night. But figuring out how to sustain the industrial base that supports the U.S. nuclear arsenal, particularly as the Pentagon prepares to shrink that arsenal by thousands of weapons, is what has Strategic Command… Keep reading →

Over the next 25 years or so, the United States plans to recapitalize its triad of submarines, bombers, and missiles that deliver strategic nuclear weapons, building new versions of these weapons to extend a 50-year-old force structure for another half century. Yet today’s strategic environment is not that of the 1960s, and tomorrow’s may differ… Keep reading →