Targeting Missile Defense Systems July 19, 2007
By Hans M. Kristensen The now month-long clash between Russia and the West over U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Europe should warn us that…
Read moreStrategic Security
China Reorganizes Northern Nuclear Missile Launch Sites July 12, 2007
A dozen trucks identified at possible missile launch sites near Delingha in the northern parts of central China resemble the DF-21 medium-range ballistic missile…
Read moreFAS Statement on Recent Testimony by Surgeon General Carmona July 11, 2007
The Federation of American Scientists is profoundly disturbed by the testimony of former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona at the July 10th hearing of the House Government Reform and…
Read moreUnited States Removes Nuclear Weapons From German Base, Documents Indicate July 9, 2007
The United States appears to have quietly removed nuclear weapons from Ramstein Air Base. Here a B61 nuclear bomb is loaded unto a C-17…
Read moreNew Chinese Ballistic Missile Submarine Spotted July 5, 2007
By Hans M. Kristensen A new satellite image appears to have captured China’s new ballistic missile submarine. Coordinates:…
Read moreVideo Shows Somali Insurgent with Sophisticated SA-18 Missile June 19, 2007
On Friday, the Washington Post posted an Associated Press story with a video still of a man in civilian clothes holding what appears to be an advanced SA-18 Igla man-portable air defense system (MANPADS).* To date, the only MANPADS reported to be in the arsenals of the Somali insurgents were the less sophisticated SA-7.** The video was reportedly obtained by the Associated Press from an individual associated with Shabab, the militant wing of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which controlled much of Somalia before it was routed by Ethiopian troops in December 2006. Last October, UN investigators reported that the ICU had received six weapons shipments containing several dozen shoulder-fired missiles.
Read moreWe Can Hear You Just Fine, It’s the Nuclear Missions that Don’t Make Sense June 18, 2007
On Thursday 14 June, Dr. John Harvey, the Director of Policy Planning Staff of the National Nuclear Security Agency, spoke at the New America Foundation to explain…
Read moreKey Senate Vote on the Reliable Replacement Warhead Coming Up June 15, 2007
On 6 June, the House Appropriations Committee eliminated funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead [RRW] requested by the administration. [In an earlier blog entry, I discuss why the Reliable Replacement Warhead is a misnomer.] The report language is quite damning. I believe that the nuclear policy of the United States since the end of the Cold War has been, to put it charitably, absent-minded, programs have been sustained more by momentum than careful analysis. The House report recognizes that, almost two decades after the end of the Cold War, the United States does not have a plausible nuclear strategy and essentially puts a freeze on long-term spending until we develop one.
Read more