Nuclear Policy News – July 9, 2019

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Top News

Russian spy sub crew prevented nuclear accident at cost of their lives
Ars Technica

Don’t Delay GBSD ICBMs; It’s Too Risky
Breaking Defense

‘Another Pious Gesture’: The Kellogg-Briand Pact and its Lessons for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Disarmament
National Institute for Public Policy

U.S. Nuclear Policy

Pentagon Looks to Virtual Reality to Prepare Troops for Nuclear War
Defense One7/8/2019
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency wants info about VR training systems that could simulate “radiological threats.”

SDA Prioritizes Missile Tracking, Satellite Links
Breaking Defense7/3/2019
The RFI explains that SDA is looking to potential contractors to supply “concepts for rapid prototyping, risk-reduction efforts that could be demonstrated in less than 18 months” that link to its proposed architecture.

As acting Air Force secretary, Donovan takes lead role advocating for independent space force
SpaceNews7/7/2019
In the weeks since he became acting secretary of the Air Force, Matthew Donovan has used his bully pulpit to advocate for the establishment of a separate space service. With Congress just weeks away from taking decisive action on the issue, Donovan said he will continue to press the case on Capitol Hill.

$2 billion floating missile defense radar back in Hawaii
The Kansas City Star7/8/2019
The $2 billion Sea-Based X-Band Radar was back at Pearl Harbor for regular maintenance and installation of system upgrades, Missile Defense Agency spokeswoman Maria Njoku told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

East Asia

China Should Consider Supporting a Korean Nuclear Deal
Defense OnePeter Huessy
7/8/2019
If Beijing hoped that a nuclear North Korea would decrease U.S. presence in the Pacific, that strategy has backfired.

China’s ‘disturbing’ missile tests contradict vow not to militarise South China Sea, says US
South China Morning Post7/3/2019
Launch undermines claim to want peace in the region and is designed to intimidate other claimants of the disputed waters, Pentagon says

Russia/Former Soviet Union/Europe

Russian spy sub crew prevented nuclear accident at cost of their lives
Ars Technica7/8/2019
On July 1, 14 Russian sailors—most of them senior officers with ranks equivalent to captain, commander, or lieutenant commander in the US Navy—died in an accident aboard a small nuclear-powered submarine designed for operations near or on the sea floor.

Pentagon report: Russian leaders believe they are already at war with the United States—in the gray zone
Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsMatt Field
7/5/2019
It’s in the gray zone that Russia meddles with elections, launches online disinformation campaigns, and uses a host of other means to gain greater leverage in places ranging from the former Soviet states to Latin America.

How 2 Space Norway Satellites will help the Air Force in the Arctic
C4ISRNET7/6/2019
Two Norwegian satellites will host the core components of the U.S. Air Force’s next generation satellite communications system for the arctic, Northrop Grumman announced July 3.

Opinion/Analysis/Commentary

Arms Racing with China: Chinese Military Demonstrates Its Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile, but Which One?
The Epoch TimesRick Fisher
7/5/2019
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) demonstrated its anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) in exercises in the South China Sea on June 29 or 30, as recounted by unidentified U.S. government sources in a July 1 report by CNBC.

We need to know where Democratic candidates stand on nuclear weapons
The HillLisbeth Gronlund, David Wright
7/8/2019
CNN, which is hosting the next Democratic debate, should make sure the candidates address U.S. nuclear weapons policy during the upcoming debate.

Don’t Delay GBSD ICBMs; It’s Too Risky
Breaking DefenseMark Gunzinger
7/2/2019
Critics of modernizing the U.S. nuclear triad have called to delay or even terminate the GBSD. Their arguments do not make strategic, technical or economic sense.

Special Interest

‘Another Pious Gesture’: The Kellogg-Briand Pact and its Lessons for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Disarmament
National Institute for Public PolicyMatthew R. Costlow
6/25/2019
What do two treaties signed nearly 90 years apart have in common, and why should their comparison hold any significance for nuclear policy today? There is great value, I believe, in comparing the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017), not just for the historical value of noting their striking parallels, but for the purpose of recalling some basic – but often forgotten – truths about war and peace generally, and arms control specifically.

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