Cutting Unnecessary Weapons

On the radar: NYT on Pentagon budget cuts; Concerns about B61 costs, risks; Putin and the reset; Kicking dust on earth penetrators; Mullen changes tone of U.S.-Pakistan relations; PNI twenty years later; SM-3 IIB takes a budget hit; Nuclear smuggling in Moldova; and Chicago has a date with a bunch of Europeans.

September 27, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

Nuclear budget should be on the table - “To find those savings [specified in the Budget Control Act], the Pentagon must also sharply prune the tens of billions it spends every year on building new versions of cold war weapons systems ill suited to America’s 21st-century military needs: aircraft carriers, nuclear attack submarines, stealth destroyers and manned aerial combat fighters.”

--”The United States already has a comfortable margin of dominance in all these areas. The Pentagon’s ambitions expanded without limit over the Bush era, and Congress eagerly wrote the checks. The country cannot afford to continue this way, and national security doesn’t require it.” A New York Times editorial. http://owl.li/6G7ZJ

The risks and costs of the B61 - “In an effort to improve the [B-61] bombs’ safety and security, the weaponeers may actually be jeopardizing its long-term reliability,” reports John Fleck for the Albuquerque Journal. This concern was reflected in a recent Senate Appropriations committee report which called for more studies and certifications on the ambitious B61 program.

--The life extension program for the B61 bomb is estimated to cost $3.9 billion, with sure bets that the price tag will go up. http://owl.li/6GdN3

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No Need to Reset the Reset - “Putin’s return to the presidency is far from the democratic ideal, but it is not the end of “reset,”’ writes Matthew Rojansky in The International Herald Tribune. “Many ordinary Russians support him because he represents stability and continuity of the status quo and, for now, that is mostly good for Russia’s relations with the West.” http://ow.ly/6G60T

Problems with earth penetrators - “It’s very unlikely this new penetrator would be any more effective than the existing B61 earth penetrating weapon,” writes David Wright at All Things Nuclear in response to a recent proposal for such a new capability to deter North Korea.

--Reasons listed: North Korea can dig beneath the bombs’ destructive reach, targeting secret bunkers is difficult, and use of such a bomb would throw 5-10 million tons of radioactive debris in the atmosphere and across East Asia. http://owl.li/6GaYG

Mullen’s “plain speaking” on Pakistan - Adm. Mike Mullen’s linking the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence Agency and the Haqqani Network in his testimony before SASC last week has “changed the rules of the game,” writes Michael Krepon. “Unless Rawalpindi changes course, Pakistan may find itself reframed from a major non-NATO ally to a state sponsor of terrorism.” http://owl.li/6G8Ns

Doing as H.W. did - Unilateral steps to reduce tactical nuclear weapons, like the “Presidential Nuclear Initiative” of twenty years ago, may be unlikely today. But “it’s become apparent that similar bold presidential leadership from the United States and Russia will be needed to realize more reductions in tactical nuclear arsenals,” argues BASIC’s Chris Lindborg. http://owl.li/6G8UD

Senate cuts new missile interceptor - The Senate appropriations bill for FY 2012 cut the [SM-3 IIB] next-generation interceptor planned for U.S. missile defenses in Europe. The defense subcommittee questioned the utility of this most advanced and expensive interceptor, particularly after an earlier variant failed its initial test launch. http://ow.ly/6G5R1

Nuclear smuggling - “Moldovan authorities believe that 2.2 pounds of weapon-usable uranium is held by traffickers who have in the past sought to sell the material to North African buyers,” reports Global Security Newswire. It is assumed that this material was stolen from a former nuclear facility with inadequate security. http://owl.li/6Gbz7

Save the date: NATO summit - The 2012 NATO summit on European missile defense will take place May 20-21 in Chicago. http://owl.li/6GbEG