NATO Considers Missile Defense Upgrade, Risking Further Tensions With Russia
Julian Barnes | New York Times
NATO military officials are exploring whether to upgrade their defenses to make them capable of shooting down newly deployed Russian intermediate-range nuclear missiles after a landmark arms treaty dissolves next month, according to three European officials. Any change to the stated mission of NATO’s current missile defense system — aimed at threats from outside the region, like Iran — would probably divide the alliance’s member countries and enrage Russia, which has long said it views NATO’s missile defense site in Romania and one under construction in Poland as a threat to its nuclear arsenal and a source of instability in Europe. “It would be a point of no return with the Russians,” said Jim Townsend, a former Pentagon official and expert on the alliance. “It would be a real escalation.” The United States announced in February its intention to withdraw from the 31-year-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987 in the waning years of the Cold War, citing Moscow’s years of violations, a step the NATO alliance supported.
Moscow: Nuclear Reactor Safe on Fire-Ravaged Sub
Vladimir Isachenkov | Associated Press
The nuclear reactor on one of the Russian navy’s research submersibles hasn’t been damaged in a fire that killed 14 seamen, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday, adding that the vessel would be put back into service after repairs. The Defense Ministry said the 14 seamen were killed by toxic fumes from Monday's blaze, the navy's worst accident in more than a decade. It said some others survived the blaze, but there was no information on how many crew members have been rescued. The ministry didn't name the vessel, and the Kremlin refused to divulge any details about it, saying the information is highly classified. Russian media reported that it was the country’s most secret submersible, a nuclear-powered research submarine called the Losharik intended for sensitive missions at great depths.
Iran Makes New Nuclear Threats That Would Reverse Steps in Pact
Babak Dehghanpisheh and Tuqa Khalid | Reuters
Iran threatened on Monday to restart deactivated centrifuges and ramp up enrichment of uranium to 20% purity in a move away from the 2015 nuclear deal, but the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards insisted the world knows Tehran is not pursuing nuclear arms. The threats to ramp up enrichment, made by Tehran’s nuclear agency spokesman, would go far beyond the small steps Iran has taken in the past week to nudge stocks of fissile material just beyond limits in the pact that Washington abandoned last year.They would reverse the major achievements of the agreement, intended to block Iran from making a nuclear weapon, and raise serious questions about whether the accord is still viable. Iran omitted important details about how far it might go to returning to the status quo before the pact, when Western experts believed it could build a bomb within months.
North Korea is Keeping Its Nukes. That Seems to be Fine With Trump Now
Jeffrey Lewis | Washington Post
When President Trump spent a few moments north of the demarcation line between North Korea and South Korea last month, he became the first U.S. president to visit North Korea. But that may wind up being a far less historic event than something else that appears to have happened in the truce village at Panmunjom: The United States accepted North Korea as a nuclear power. No, the government did not do so officially, and Trump administration officials, if asked, would deny it. But it is hard to escape the sense that Trump has learned to stop worrying and love North Korea’s bomb. After all, when Trump and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un emerged from their 50-minute meeting at the demilitarized zone, the official remarks afterward made no reference to the nuclear issue. Not one. Nor did the readout of the meeting released by the North Koreans. While the U.S. side declined to provide its own readout, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo summarized the discussion by saying “Chairman Kim really wants to get something done” and then declining to elaborate on what that something might entail.
Japan to Provide U.S. with Missile Data from Aegis Ashore
Japan Times
Japan will provide U.S. forces with information obtained from planned Aegis Ashore ground-based missile defense systems when necessary, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said at a news conference Tuesday. The comment suggests there is a possibility that the Aegis Ashore systems would serve as a radar for ballistic missiles directed at the United States, sources familiar with the situation said. Tokyo claims that the Aegis Ashore deployment is designed to respond to possible North Korean ballistic missiles directed toward Japan. Japan plans to deploy one Aegis Ashore system each to Akita Prefecture and Yamaguchi Prefecture. Iwaya also said that it is possible for Japan to shoot down missiles targeted at the United States by exercising its right to collective self-defense if Japan’s “survival” is at stake, based on a new government interpretation of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.
U.K. Shoots for New Laser Weapons Against Drones, Missiles
Andrew Chuter | Defense News
Britain is planning to invest up to $162 million developing three directed-energy weapon demonstrators, including one aimed at killing drones, the Ministry of Defence has announced. The MoD said it had notified industry this week, in what is called a Prior Information Notice, of its intention to procure two laser-based demonstrators and a radio-frequency weapon to “explore the potential of the technology and accelerate its introduction onto the battlefield.” The British look to start the procurement process later this year and hope to have the new systems ready for trials in 2023. A spokesman for the MoD said it’s too early to talk about any other timelines or exactly how the weapons development work will be procured. In a statement the MoD said it was forming a new joint program office and is now recruiting personnel to manage the program.