Hypersonic Missile Arms Race: What You Need to Know
James Acton | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Hypersonic missiles can travel faster than five times the speed of sound. Russia and China have invested heavily in different types of hypersonic missiles capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads. The United States has also invested in its hypersonic missile technology. What are hypersonic weapons capable of, and what dangers do they pose to international stability? Is another arms race under way?
US and Russia to Meet June 22 on Curbing Nuclear Stockpiles
Nick Wadhams | Bloomberg
The U.S. and Russia will send senior officials to Vienna on June 22 for a new round of arms-control talks, a State Department official said, as the Trump administration tries to enlist Moscow’s help bringing China into broader negotiations to limit all three countries’ nuclear weapons stockpiles. The official didn’t rule out that the U.S. may be willing to extend the Obama-era New Start nuclear-weapons treaty, which is set to expire in February, provided Russia commits to three-way arms control with China and helps to bring a resistant Beijing to the table. China said Tuesday that it did not intend to participate in the talks. Even a willingness to consider a New Start extension marks a concession by the Trump administration, which had previously rebuffed Russian calls to open such talks.
Iran Blocking Sites Access, UN Nuclear Watchdog Says
BBC
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that for more than four months Iran has been blocking inspections of two suspect locations. It is believed the activity there took place long before Iran agreed to curb its nuclear ambitions in a 2015 deal. The IAEA says Iran's enriched uranium stockpile now exceeds the agreed limit. The findings, laid out in two unreleased reports, are expected to be discussed by the agency in mid-June. The agency said it still has access to all nuclear sites needed to monitor Iran's current nuclear activity, despite difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and noted "exceptional co-operation" by Iranian authorities.
China Mobilises Thousands of Troops, Armoured Vehicles Near Border With India
Kinling Lo | South China Morning Post
China has mobilised thousands of paratroopers, armoured vehicles and equipment in a military drill, saying they could be deployed “within hours” to the border with India in the Himalayas, where tensions have again flared. The soldiers and armoured vehicles were transported from the central province of Hubei to an unspecified location in China’s northwest plateau, thousands of kilometres away, in “just a few hours”, according to state media reports over the weekend. They were trying to defuse a stand-off that began in early May, with border troops engaging in fist fights and stone-throwing in the Galwan River valley between Ladakh, in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Chinese-administered Aksai Chin. Indian media reports have meanwhile quoted military sources as saying that Chinese forces had entered Indian territory by 1km to 3km.
North Korea Cuts Off All Communications Lines to South Korea
Choe Sang-Hun | New York Times
North Korea said on Tuesday that it would cut off all communication lines with South Korea, including military hotlines, as it vowed to reverse a recent détente on the Korean Peninsula and start treating the South as an “enemy.” North Korea made the decision when its top officials in charge of relations with the South, including Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, met on Monday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. Shortly after its announcement, North Korea refused to pick up the phone on Tuesday morning when the South made its routine daily call on the military hotlines between the two countries, officials in Seoul said. Inter-Korean relations have rapidly deteriorated since Kim Jong-un’s second summit meeting with President Trump, held in Vietnam in February of last year, ended without agreement on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program or easing United Nations sanctions on the country.
Top Democrats Demand Answers on Trump Administration's ‘Unfathomable’ Consideration of Nuclear Testing
Rebecca Kheel | Hill
A group of top House Democrats is demanding answers from the Trump administration on reported conversations within the administration on whether to resume nuclear testing. “It is unfathomable that the administration is considering something so short-sighted and dangerous, and that directly contradicts its own 2018 Nuclear Posture Review,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter Monday to Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The posture review, the lawmakers wrote, “which this administration often cites as inviolable, makes clear that ‘the United States will not resume nuclear explosive testing unless necessary to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.’ ” The Washington Post reported last month that the idea of conducting the United States’s first nuclear test in decades was raised at a May 15 meeting of senior officials.