Navy Confirms Global Strike Hypersonic Weapon Will First Deploy on Virginia Attack Subs
Megan Eckstein | USNI News
The Navy intends to deploy its conventional prompt strike hypersonic weapon on Virginia-class attack submarines, after previous discussions of putting the weapon on the larger Ohio-class guided-missile submarine (SSGN), according to budget request documents. “The CPS [Conventional Prompt Strike] program develops warfighting capability to enable precise and timely strike capability in contested environments across surface and sub-surface platforms,” reads the budget documents. “The Navy’s CPS program will design a missile comprised of a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) and a 34.5 inch two-stage booster. The program is pursuing an [initial operational capability] of FY 2028 in which the missile will be fielded on a Virginia class submarine with Virginia Payload Module.” The conventional prompt global strike capability would allow the U.S. to hit any target on the planet with precision-guided weapons in less than an hour. Similar to nuclear weapons, part of that prompt strike capability would rely on multiple ways to launch the missiles from ships, submarines or ground launchers around the globe.
China Testing Hypersonic Weapon With Intercontinental Range, Says USNORTHCOM Commander
Andrew Tate | Jane’s
China is testing an intercontinental-range hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), according to written testimony submitted to the US Senate Armed Services Committee on 13 February 2020 by US Air Force General Terrence J O’Shaughnessy, commander of US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Although Gen O’Shaughnessy did not identify any specific weapon programme – saying only that the weapon “is designed to fly at high speeds and low altitudes, thus “complicating” the US ability to provide “precise warning” – he was likely referring to a weapon different from the DF-17 HGV-carrying ballistic missile that was exhibited at China’s National Day Parade on 1st October 2019 in Beijing.
Pakistan Test Launches Ra’ad II Nuclear-Capable Air-Launched Cruise Missile
Franz-Stefan Gady | Diplomat
Pakistan test-launched a new variant of its Ra’ad II nuclear-capable air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) on February 16, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistani military. A video of the launch released by ISPR shows the Ra’ad II being launched from a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Mirage III fighter aircraft. ISPR referred to the new weapon system as “a major step towards complementing Pakistan’s deterrence capability.” The 4.85 meter-long Ra’ad-II had a stated range of 550-600 kilometers. It is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear payloads. Pakistan’s Ra’ad (also known as the Hatf VIII) series bears a resemblance to several South African stand-off missile projects, including the MUPSOW cruise missile and Torgos long-range guided weapon. Pakistan and South Africa have worked together on advanced weapons development in the past. The development of the latest Ra’ad II variant may in part be influenced by India’s air defense modernization efforts.
France Shuts Oldest Reactors, But Nuclear Power Still Reigns
France 24
France will start closing its oldest atomic power plant on Saturday after 43 years in operation, the first in a series of reactor shutdowns but hardly a signal the country will reduce its reliance on nuclear energy anytime soon. Unplugging the two reactors at Fessenheim, along the Rhine near France's eastern border with Germany and Switzerland, became a key goal of anti-nuclear campaigners after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima in Japan in 2011. Experts have noted that construction and safety standards at Fessenheim, brought online in 1977, fall far short of those at Fukushima, with some warning that seismic and flooding risks in the Alsace region had been underestimated. Despite a pledge by ex-president Francois Hollande just months after Fukushima to close the plant, it was not until 2018 that President Emmanuel Macron's government gave the final green light. France will still be left with 56 pressurised water reactors at 18 nuclear power plants -- only the United States has more reactors, at 98 -- generating an unmatched 70 percent of its electricity needs.
Nuclear Missile Upgrade Could Deliver $13 Billion to Northrop
Anthony Capaccio | Bloomberg
Northrop Grumman Corp. will receive as much as $13 billion in research spending through 2025 as the sole contractor on the Air Force’s replacement program for the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The Air Force’s $1.5 billion request for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 is up from $500 million this year, according to budget documents. The request grows to $2.5 billion in 2022 and $3 billion in 2023, staying at that level through 2025, after which $7.3 billion is estimated to be needed to complete the research phase. The ICBM program’s roughly $61 billion procurement phase starts in 2026, according to the service. The missile upgrade program is just one part of a trillion-dollar effort to modernize the U.S.’s sea-air-land nuclear triad over the next 30 years, including maintenance and support.
US Flies Surveillance Aircraft Over Korean Peninsula to Monitor North Korea
Yonhap News Agency
The United States again flew a surveillance aircraft over South Korea on Thursday, an aviation tracker said, on an apparent mission to monitor North Korea. The U.S. Air Force's RC-135W Rivet Joint was spotted in the skies above South Korea at 31,000 feet, Aircraft Spots tweeted. This type of aircraft was detected four times here last month. The latest flight came just a couple of days after the Air Force's E-8C, or JSTARS, flew over the Korean Peninsula, according to the tracker. U.S. spy planes were believed to have carried out operations monitoring North Korea after the communist country warned of a "new strategic weapon" in the near future and a "shocking actual action" earlier this year in protest over the stalled denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. No specific unusual military movements have been detected in North Korea in recent weeks, which appears to be linked to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, that has swept through Asia, according to Seoul's military sources. North Korea claims that not a single virus case has been reported on its soil so far.