STRATCOM Commander's Warning:How Russia and China Threaten the US and its Allies

US Air Force General John Hyten,Commander,US Strategic Command,testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on 20 March 2018.In an opening statement and answers to senators' questions in  both open testimony and private visits,GEN Hyten gave an assessment of the current and future threats from our adversaries and STRATCOM's level of readiness to counter them.Two US Army veterans,Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) and Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) are the Second-Ranking Republican and Ranking Member of the Committee,respectively,while US Navy veteran and former POW Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) is Chairman.
According to GEN Hyten:
The most important message I want to deliver today is that the forces under my command (184,000 Soldiers,Airmen,Sailors and Marines) are fully ready to deter our adversaries and respond decisively,should deterrence ever fail.We are ready for all threats.Our forces and capabilities underpin and enable all other joint force operations.*
STRATCOM missions include fielding our nuclear,cyber and space forces.It also synchronises global missile defence plans and operations;electromagnetic spectrum operations and electronic warfare;over the entire continuum of land-sea-air-electromagnetic spectrum and space.*
GEN Hyten continued:
To maintain military superiority in this multi-polar,all-domain world,we must out-think,out-manoeuvre,out-partner,and out-innovate our adversaries.Deterrence in the twenty-first century requires the integration of all our capabilities,across all domains,enabling us to respond to adversary aggression anytime,anywhere.
The bedrock of our nation's deterrence continues to be our safe,secure,ready and reliable nuclear triad (sea,air and land-based systems).While the current triad continues to provide the backbone of our national security,we will eventually consume the last remaining margin from our investments made in the Cold War.
Today our nation is challenged by multiple adversaries with an expanding range of capabilities available to them.Our modernisation programmes are critical and include the B-21 bomber;the Columbia-class Ballistic Missile Submarine;the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent;the Long-Range Standoff Cruise Missile;Nuclear Command-and-Control;and Life-Extended Nuclear Warheads;which will provide without a doubt the nuclear deterrence capability our nation needs now and well into the future.
The biggest difference between the 2018 and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review is in the return to threat-based planning and the response to great power competition.We started the NPR with the assessment of the threat-it was all about the threat-and based our approach on what our adversaries are doing today and the increasing challenges of the future.
1.Low-Yield Nuclear Weapons
I strongly agree with the need for a low-yield nuclear weapon.That capability is a deterrence weapon to respond to the threat that Russia in particular is portraying.President Putin as far back as 2000 announced that the Russian doctrine will be to use a low-yield nuclear weapon on the battlefield in the face of a conventional overmatch with an adversary.
We do have low-yield nuclear weapons,but those are with our aviation capabilities right now (the B61 nuclear bomb on NATO fighter-bomber aircraft),and those capabilities might not be the right response in terms of timeliness and survivability to get to where the threat is.Therefore,to respond to the threat,we need a small number of low-yield nuclear weapons that we can deploy on our Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles,still in the new START limits.
2.Hypersonic Nuclear Weapons
A hypersonic threat is a system that starts out ballistic,and so you'll see it like a ballistic missile,but then it depresses its trajectory and then flies more like a cruise missile or an airplane;and so it goes up into the low reaches of space,and then levels out and flies at a very high level of speed-and that's hypersonic,that's a hypersonic weapon.Both Russia and China are developing these capabilities.We'ver watched them test these capabilities;so both Russia and China are aggressively pursuing these weapons.I can give the details in a classified session.
Our defence is our deterrence capability.We don't have any defence that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us;so our response would be our deterrent force,which would be the triad and the nuclear capabilities that we would have to respond to such a threat,GEN Hyten explained at the recent hearing on Capitol Hill.

US Nuclear Forces Upgrade Momentum - deep strike war plans

The US Air Force has gotten its nuclear forces modernisation plan seriously underway by awarding several preliminary design contracts to leading aerospace firms.On 22 April 2017,the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent contract was awarded to Boeing and Northrop Grumman.This is for the replacement of the silo-based Minuteman III ICBM and is under the heading of "technology maturation and risk-reduction."The contracts run for three years,at the end of which the winner will be chosen.Orbital ATK and Aerojet Rocketdyne are potential subcontractors for the GBSD's solid fuel rocket engines.*
On 23 April 2017,the preliminary contracts for the AGM-86B nuclear cruise missile replacement,which is termed the Long Range Standoff weapon,or LRSO,were awarded to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.This is under the heading of "maturing design concepts and proving developmental technologies."Each company got a 900 million dollar contract running for 54 months.At the end of the period,the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center will select one firm for the Engineering,Manufacturing Development and Production and Deployment phases of the project,the USAF said.*
The current nuclear cruise missile,the AGM-86B,dates from the early 1980s,when it was projected to have a 10-year design life.The Air Force believes the missile will continue to face increasingly significant operational challenges against emerging threats as well as reliability challenges.
Air Force Chief of Staff General David L. Goldfein noted that:
The Long Range Standoff weapon is a critical capability required to support General John Hyten's war plans.*
General John Hyten is commander,US Strategic Command.*
General Robin Rand,commander,Air Force Global Strike Command,told the House Armed Services Committee that:
The LRSO missile will ensure the bomber force continues to hold high-value targets at risk in an evolving threat environment,including targets deep within an area-denied environment.*
Besides the B-2 Spirit and B-52H Stratofortress legacy strategic bombers,the LRSO will be fitted to the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider,a very large stealth strategic bomber capable of both conventional and nuclear strike that is currently in development.Indeed,the Air Force has already begun planning for an appropriate stealth fighter escort for the B-21.The new fighter is known as the Penetrating Counter-Air,or PCA,and will accompany the B-21 deep into hostile territory.That's all that is known about it as of now.*
Besides its bomber role,the B-21 Raider will reportedly have intelligence gathering,battle management and interceptor capabilities-a bravura suite of competencies for sure.The B-21's subcontractors include BAE Systems;Rockwell Collins;and Orbital ATK.*
Nor is that all.The Air Force is also planning a stealth refueling tanker,the KC-Z.*
Boeing (BA),Northrop Grumman (NOC),Lockheed Martin (LMT),Raytheon Company (RTN)