Showing posts with label hypersonic nuclear weapons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hypersonic nuclear weapons. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2022
L3Harris Pursuing Early Materials Acquisition for SDA Tracking Layer Satellites
L3Harris Pursuing Early Materials Acquisition for SDA Tracking Layer Satellites: The fiscal year 2022 defense appropriations law provided $550 million for the Space Development Agency (SDA) to accelerate development of the Tracking
Thursday, April 14, 2022
China and Russia Increased Satellites 70 Percent in 2 Years, New DIA Report Finds
China and Russia Increased Satellites 70 Percent in 2 Years, New DIA Report Finds: Between 2019 and 2021, China doubled its number of satellites in orbit from some 250 to 499, while Russia increased its number of orbiting satellites from
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
China Launches New Threat,but the US Navy Builds Its Own
The Financial Times has reported that China had launched a hypersonic vehicle into space in July or August.The nuclear-capable weapon,capable of gliding to its target at over five times the speed of sound,was launched on an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.It circled the Earth and then landed about 40 kilometers/25 miles from its target.Admiral James "Sandy" Winnefeld,US Navy retired,who was Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,said the test was an important surprise:
because it demonstrates the capability to have a very long reach hypersonic weapon that could cause a lot of damage without us able to do anyhting about it.China denied the report,saying it was actually a space vehicle sent up on a routine mission to develop reusable space vehicles.China has been known to use its space program to cloak other military projects,however.*
Hypersonic weapons,which may have conventional or nuclear warheads,are so fast and fly so low to the ground,they can be nearly impossible to detect.For its part,the US Navy is currently developing the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic weapon.It is intended to add strategic capability to the new Zumwalt-class destroyers and Virginia-class attack submarines.Launched on an 86.63 cm/34.5 in diameter rocket from launch tubes,it is to be deployed on the three Zumwalt-class destroyers by 2025,and on the Virginia-class submarines by 2028.New,larger launch tubes will have to be added to the Zumwalts in an Advanced Payload Module,since the existing 20 MK57 VLS modules with 80 launch cells are too narrow to accomodate the CPS.They are actually intended for the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile,Tomahawk cruise missile or Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Missile.*
Two of the three Zumwalt-class destroyers,the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) and USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001),have so far been commissioned.The future Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002) has been launched and is being fitted out.The stealthy,heavily armed warships are built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works.*
General Dynamics (GD)
Thursday, March 22, 2018
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.
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.
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