Russia Is Moving Ahead With Missile Program That Violates Treaty, U.S. Officials Say
Michael R. Gordon | New York Times
Russia appears to be moving ahead with a program to produce a ground-launched cruise missile despite the Obama administration’s protests that the weapon violates a landmark arms control agreement, according to American officials and lawmakers. The concern goes beyond those raised by the United States in July 2014, when the Obama administration said that Russia had violated the 1987 treaty on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces by conducting flight tests of the missile.
S. Korea, U.S. Agree to Launch High-Level 'Extended Deterrence' Dialogue
Chang Jae-soon | Yonhap News
South Korea and the United States agreed Wednesday to launch a high-level dialogue to discuss how to carry out the U.S. "extended deterrence" protection of the Asian ally from nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. The agreement to establish the "Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group" was reached in "two plus two" alliance talks that brought together South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Defense Minister Han Min-koo, and their U.S. counterparts, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Australia Will Not Support Negotiations to Outlaw Nuclear Weapons
Ben Doherty | Guardian
Australia will not support a resolution to begin negotiations to outlaw nuclear weapons, as it grows increasingly isolated from a global disarmament push. A resolution is before the United Nations general assembly to “convene a United Nations conference in 2017, to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons.”
Updated B61 Nuclear Bomb to Cost $8.25 Billion
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
The life-extension program for the B61-12 atomic bomb will cost just over $8.25 billion, according to a new estimate from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The new cost estimate was completed over the summer as the agency prepared to enter the production-engineering phase of the program. The baseline cost of the program is $7.605 billion, with an additional $648 million in “funds leveraged from other NNSA programs for technology and manufacturing readiness,” according to an agency statement – money that has common applications across multiple weapon systems.
Russia May Supply Uranium Enrichment Technology to India
International Panel on Fissile Materials
On 13 October, in an interview with Russian and Indian news agencies leading up to his visit to the BRICs summit in Goa, President Putin of Russia outlined areas of nuclear cooperation with India. Along with building nuclear power reactors, President Putin announced that technological cooperation in the field of uranium enrichment is being established.
Another North Korea Missile Fails After Launch, Say U.S. And South
Ju-min Park and Eric Walsh | Reuters
North Korea test-fired a missile that failed immediately after launch early on Thursday, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said, hours after the two countries agreed to step up efforts to counter the North's nuclear and missile threats.