Home Americas

US Scraps ‘Zero-Value’ Sea-Launched Nuclear Missiles As Focus Shifts From Russia To China — Reports

The Biden administration finally released an unclassified version of its long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) on October 27, 2022. Coming against Russia’s dangerous nuclear saber-rattling, it does away with a major sea-launched nuclear weapon from the Trump era.

According to the document, the United States will cease the effort to develop a nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missile which was decided under former President Donald Trump with a particular focus on the threat posed by Russia.

The document has been released ahead of a crucial mid-term election in November.

The decision has reportedly been taken against the recommendations of some senior military officials, according to media reports. Scrapping the submarine-launched cruise missile could help President Joe Biden respond to Democratic calls to reduce America’s nuclear stockpile without jeopardizing the “triad” of nuclear weapons.

The weapon, named Submarine Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear (SCLM-N), which had backing from the Joint Chiefs and the US Strategic Command, was deemed to have “zero value,” a senior defense official told reporters after the release of the document.

“Everyone’s voice has been heard. As it applies to the current situation – Russia [and] Ukraine – [it] has zero value because even at the full funding value, it would not arrive until 2035,” the senior defense official said. “Our deterrence posture is firm. Russia’s been deterred from attacking NATO. We continue to focus on Russia and China. I think as it stands right now, there is no need to develop SLCM.”

However, the timing of such a decision and the publication of the Nuclear Posture Review document is significant as it comes when Russia has been floating the narrative about a “dirty bomb.” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his western peers that Ukraine was planning to use a “dirty bomb,” which would ostensibly lead to a Russian nuclear retaliation.

Under Donald Trump, the US military decided to build a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile in 2018. However, the decision to scrap the program aligns with Joe Biden’s inclination towards not adding new nuclear weapons to the arsenal. In its totality, the NPR seeks to adjust the existing force posture and increase the use of conventional weapons.

However, one significant policy consideration worth highlighting is that the US now considers China a bigger threat than Russia. The Biden administration released three documents: the National Defense Strategy, Nuclear Posture Review, and Missile Defense Review.

In the National Defense Strategy document, the administration maintains that the long-term threat to Washington comes from China, the war waged by Russia on Ukraine notwithstanding.

A senior defense official told reporters that the biggest way the new document departs from the previous one is by emphasizing China as the greater threat rather than a shared focus on China and Russia. The SCLM-N is a weapon that was designed primarily to deter Moscow.




missile-tom-hawk
File Image: Tomahawk Missile via USNI

NPR Is Out, So Is The Trump-Era Nuclear Weapon

According to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the military did not require the SLCM-N because its nuclear stockpile already had sufficient capabilities. When asked if the scrapping would send a dangerous message to Russia and China, he said: “I don’t think this sends any message to Putin. He understands what our capability is.”

Another senior official defended the scrapping by saying that even if the program had received total funding, the missiles wouldn’t be ready until 2035. However, there has been significant criticism – some overt while others covert – about abandoning a crucial program by the military.

For instance, in April, Mark Milley, a senior US general, told Congress that his opinion of the SLCM-N had not altered and that he thought several options should be available.

Besides the SLCM-N, the Biden administration has decided to retain another weapon codenamed W76-2, which was initially intended as a system to deter an adversary like Russia using a low-yield weapon.

Read More

Exit mobile version