Nuclear Policy News – March 26, 2020

FacebookXLinkedInEmailCopy Link

Top News

A new training system for the Air Force’s airborne ICBM launch center is coming soon
Defense New

Pompeo calls on G7 to continue pressure on N. Korea
Yonhap News

ANALYSIS: Preliminary assessment of the KN-24 missile launches
38 North

United States

A new training system for the Air Force’s airborne ICBM launch center is coming soon
Defense News3/25/20
Next month, the Air Force is expected to get a new training system for its airborne ICBM command post after the older system was damaged in devastating floods in 2019.

Lockheed awarded $932.8M to make THAADs for U.S., Saudi Arabia
UPI3/24/20
Lockheed Martin was awarded a $932.8 million contract modification for the production of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor missiles for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Department of Defense announced.

F-35 testing at Edwards Air Force Base paused, impact to full-rate production decision unknown
Defense News3/25/20
F-35 tests necessary to complete the jet’s operational test phase have been temporarily paused as Edwards Air Force Base in California shuts down to help slow the spread of coronavirus.

Y-12 reducing UPF bus riders, staggering shifts
Oak Ridge Today3/25/20
A federal contractor is limiting the number of employees who can ride a bus at one time to the Uranium Processing Facility construction site at the Y-12 National Security Complex and started the process of staggering shifts at the project to help keep workers separated from each other as the world tries to slow the spread of COVID-19, a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.

BLOG: Inside a Titan missile guidance computer
Ken Shirriff’s Blog3/21/20
This compact computer was used in the 1970s to guide a Titan II nuclear missile towards its target or send a Titan IIIC rocket into the proper orbit.

East Asia

Pompeo calls on G7 to continue pressure on N. Korea
Yonhap News3/26/20
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the Group of Seven major economies and other countries must continue to urge North Korea to return to denuclearization talks and pressure the regime to give up its nuclear program.

ANALYSIS: Preliminary assessment of the KN-24 missile launches
38 NorthMichael Elleman
3/25/20
North Korea test fired a pair of KN-24 ballistic missiles on Saturday, March 21, 2020. According to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the early morning launches occurred at 6:45 and 6:50 AM local time, from a site near the city of Sonchon in North Pyongan Province.

Middle East

OPINION: Round-the-clock surveillance of Iran’s uranium-enrichment sites continues, despite coronavirus
Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsTariq Rauf
3/25/20
While George Moore is well-intentioned in his recent Bulletin article on the challenges of continuing on-site International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards in Iran at a time when the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in that country, it is important not to exaggerate the situation or raise false alarms.

Russia and Europe

ANALYSIS: Russian hard power projection: A brief synopsis
CSIS3/25/20
Russian military activity on its periphery and in its near abroad is commonplace. This activity spans a broad spectrum from conflicts in Ukraine and Georgia on one hand, and joint exercises with Belarus, China, and Kazakhstan, on the other.

OPINION: America’s allies are becoming a nuclear-proliferation threat
Defense OnePete Mckenzie
3/25/20
As the Trump administration scrambles traditional foreign-policy practice, experts warn that some of America’s longest allies are increasingly considering what would previously have been unthinkable: the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

FacebookXLinkedInEmailCopy Link