U.S. Submarines Will Soon Carry Tactical Nuclear Weapons

[jpak]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a22550758/us-submarines-will-soon-carry-tactical-nuclear-weapons/

The U.S. Navy’s fleet of ballistic missile submarines will soon carry tactical nuclear weapons, as Congress prepares to fund development of a new, low-yield nuclear warhead. The submarines, which form a functional invulnerable retaliatory force in case of surprise nuclear attack, will soon be able to launch missiles with less powerful tactical nuclear weapons. Not everyone is sold on the new weapon, which critics charge is unnecessary and could lower the threshold for nuclear war.

The U.S. Navy’s fourteen Ohio nuclear ballistic missile submarines provide a powerful deterrent to surprise nuclear attack. The submarines embark on lengthy deterrence patrols, hiding in the world’s oceans, effectively a moving cache of nuclear weapons that an adversary would find extremely difficult to destroy. As long as the subs are at sea, the U.S. maintains the ability to counter a surprise attack with a counterattack of its own.

Every four years, the sitting presidential administration conducts a review of U.S. nuclear forces. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, commissioned by President Trump, calls for replacing some of the existing nuclear warheads on the Ohio-class submarines with low-yield warheads. The goal is to have the ability to strike urgent, time sensitive targets virtually any place on Earth.

Each Ohio submarine carries twenty Trident D-5 missiles, and each missile is outfitted with an unknown number of W76-1 nuclear warheads. (The U.S. keeps the number of submarines at sea and warheads per submarine intentionally ambiguous, although we know Washington has pledged to never deploy more than 240 missiles at sea at any one time.) Now it appears at least some of those warheads will be replaced with the W76-2, which has a much smaller explosive yield.

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[lapfog_1]

1. i guess we will nuke Iran if they blockade the gulf - n/t

[NCTraveler]

2. This is possible with the current arms on a sub.

"The goal is to have the ability to strike urgent, time sensitive targets virtually any place on Earth. "

They seem to have forgotten to add "ability to perform a nuclear strike".

[heaven05]

3. 'tactical' nuclear weapons'

Getting ready for the culling. No doubt in my mind. There are people who think a nuclear war is survivable for a majority of their kind. They will try to prove this true in the future, no so far off as many may think. The rich wypipo have their bunkers, huge central American estates like the Bush's have with their 'black forest' type security people. Come on, get ready to glow in the dark.

Don't think they have not been preparing for an eventuality such as this for a long, long time.

[Fred Sanders]

5. Apparently 700 billion a year and overwhelming conventional superiority in all realms is just

not enough to quell American fear of...something. And how ya gonna spend all that moolah is not on unnecessary shit?

How many jobs from these tens of billions...a few dozen scientists?

[maryellen99]

6. Don't forget your average Trumpie thinks they can survive it too

They think the fallout will be contained and won’t drift over here.

[Whiskeytide]

4. Asshole REALLY wants to drop a nuke. His ...

... base would love it.

[spanone]

7. 9 terrifying things Donald Trump has publicly said about nuclear weapons

Trump said he might use nuclear weapons and questioned why we would make them if we wouldn’t use them

https://thinkprogress.org/9-terrifying-things-donald-trump-has-publicly-said-about-nuclear-weapons-99f6290bc32a/