Putin, Trump Discuss G7 Summit, Arms Control in Phone Call
RFE/RL
U.S. President Donald Trump has called Russian President Vladimir Putin to tell him about his proposal to convene an expanded Group of Seven (G7) summit later this year that would involve Russia, the Kremlin says. The Kremlin said on June 1 that Trump told Putin about his idea, but it didn't offer any details of the discussion or say whether the Russian leader accepted the invitation. The U.S. president also "reiterated the need for effective arms control," it said. The Kremlin said that Putin and Trump spoke of the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in space and also talked about the need to intensify a U.S.-Russian dialogue on strategic stability and steps to enhance mutual trust in the military sphere.
Putin Signs Russia's Nuclear Deterrent Policy
Vladimir Isachenkov | AP
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday endorsed Russia’s nuclear deterrent policy which allows him to use atomic weapons in response to a conventional strike targeting the nation’s critical government and military infrastructure. By including a non-nuclear attack as a possible trigger for Russian nuclear retaliation, the document appears to send a warning signal to the U.S. The new expanded wording reflects Russian concerns about the development of prospective weapons that could give Washington the capability to knock out key military assets and government facilities without resorting to atomic weapons. But the policy document now also offers a detailed description of situations that could trigger the use of nuclear weapons.
Pandemic Hits Navy's New Nuke Submarine Program
Paul McLeary | Breaking Defense
The Navy’s top priority — its new nuclear-powered Columbia-class submarine — has been struck by the COVID-19 virus. Workers’ absences at a critical supplier have delayed construction and welding of the boat’s missile tubes by several months a senior Navy official said today, and the service is scrambling to make that time up. While the service and its contractors are looking for ways to reclaim that time, the situation is something that Navy and Pentagon officials have most feared. Large-scale work on the first of the twelve planned Columbia submarines is slated to kick off in 2021, with deliveries starting in 2030 — just in time to begin replacing the Cold War-era Ohio-class subs as the Navy’s leg of the nation’s nuclear triad.
Air Force Is Buying Eight of These Missiles That Are Set To Become Its First Hypersonic Weapons
Joseph Trevithick | WarZone
The U.S. Air Force plans to buy at least eight prototype AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapons, or ARRWs. This initial batch of these hypersonic missiles will support live-fire flight testing, set to begin in 2021, and could help give the service an early operational capability to employ the weapons a year later. However, there are risks of delays as the project is already a year behind schedule and has seen its total cost increase by almost 40 percent. The Government Accountability Office, a Congressional watchdog, included these and other new details about the ARRW program in a larger annual review of major U.S. military programs, which it released on June 3, 2020.
Northrop Grumman Completes Major Design Review for GBSD Program
Stephen Kuper | Defence Connect
Northrop Grumman has successfully completed its fourth and final major design review with the US Air Force under the technology maturation and risk reduction (TMRR) phase of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program. The preliminary design review (PDR) is a technical assessment of the entire weapon system approach that is required to conclude the three-year TMRR effort, and inform the next phase of the GBSD program; the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase. GBSD is a vital US Air Force program to modernise the nation’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) system.
Funding, Authorizations the 'Biggest' Risks Pit Production Faces, Defense Official Says
Colin Demarest | Aiken Standard
Proper funding and necessary authorizations represent the "biggest" hurdles the plutonium pit production endeavor must clear, a U.S. Department of Defense executive said last week, echoing sentiments other nuclear officials have previously expressed. "I, and the rest of the Department of Defense, fully support the two-site strategy," Drew Walter, performing the duties of deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters, said during a May 26 online forum. The current recommendation for reinvigorated plutonium pit production – the forging of nuclear weapon cores, also known as triggers – intimately involves two states, South Carolina and New Mexico, a divided Congress with lawmakers already jockeying for and against the venture, and a broad spectrum of local, vested opinions.