Current Nuclear Weapons Development

I'm sure the Biden Administration will take into account Russia and China's vast modernization and and expansion of their nuclear forces. No, really.
 
I'm sure the Biden Administration will take into account Russia and China's vast modernization and and expansion of their nuclear forces. No, really.

How is Russia "expanding" its nuclear forces?
 
I'm sure the Biden Administration will take into account Russia and China's vast modernization and and expansion of their nuclear forces. No, really.

How is Russia "expanding" its nuclear forces?
Really? Zircon, Oniks, P-700, and Kinzhal are touted as nuclear capable. Then there is Status-6 and their new nuclear powered cruise missile. SARMAT will be more capable than the R-36M. They're building new Blackjack bombers, working on a new stealth bomber, etc. etc.
 
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I'm sure the Biden Administration will take into account Russia and China's vast modernization and and expansion of their nuclear forces. No, really.

How is Russia "expanding" its nuclear forces?
Really? Zircon, Oniks, P-700, and Kinzhal are touted as nuclear capable. Then there is Status-6 and their new nuclear powered cruise missile. SARMAT will be more capable than the R-36M. They're building new Blackjack bombers, working on a new stealth bomber, etc. etc.

None of that is expansion. Russian and Soviet AShMs were nuclear capable before, and quite frankly there were a lot more of them 25 years ago.

Bombers? Seriously? The Russian fleet size has been flat for a while now after big decline post 1991. Tu-160 production is very limited in air-frames/year. B-21 will be produced faster than PAK-DA and Tu-160 combined probably, so this is a weird angle to take in terms of Russia increasing stockpile relative to the US.
Fleet might even shrink with attrition on Tu-22M3s and Tu-95 front, and modernization on those is slooowwww.

Burevestnik so far has blown up a few times and done little else.

Status-6 is indeed a new "approach", but I doubt it will effect total numbers deployed to any serious degree (I'd assume it will be counted as part of deployed strategic warheads allowed)...and not to mention it is a direct response to Russian concerns about US ABM activity over the years. Hint, increasing the US nuclear strategic arsenal won't change anything about Status deployment.
 
I'm sure the Biden Administration will take into account Russia and China's vast modernization and and expansion of their nuclear forces. No, really.

How is Russia "expanding" its nuclear forces?
Really? Zircon, Oniks, P-700, and Kinzhal are touted as nuclear capable. Then there is Status-6 and their new nuclear powered cruise missile. SARMAT will be more capable than the R-36M. They're building new Blackjack bombers, working on a new stealth bomber, etc. etc.

None of that is expansion. Russian and Soviet AShMs were nuclear capable before, and quite frankly there were a lot more of them 25 years ago.

Bombers? Seriously? The Russian fleet size has been flat for a while now after big decline post 1991. Tu-160 production is very limited in air-frames/year. B-21 will be produced faster than PAK-DA and Tu-160 combined probably, so this is a weird angle to take in terms of Russia increasing stockpile relative to the US.
Fleet might even shrink with attrition on Tu-22M3s and Tu-95 front, and modernization on those is slooowwww.

Burevestnik so far has blown up a few times and done little else.

Status-6 is indeed a new "approach", but I doubt it will effect total numbers deployed to any serious degree (I'd assume it will be counted as part of deployed strategic warheads allowed)...and not to mention it is a direct response to Russian concerns about US ABM activity over the years. Hint, increasing the US nuclear strategic arsenal won't change anything about Status deployment.
Yeah, none of this changes the fact that they're adding new nuclear capable systems.
 
I'm sure the Biden Administration will take into account Russia and China's vast modernization and and expansion of their nuclear forces. No, really.

How is Russia "expanding" its nuclear forces?
Really? Zircon, Oniks, P-700, and Kinzhal are touted as nuclear capable. Then there is Status-6 and their new nuclear powered cruise missile. SARMAT will be more capable than the R-36M. They're building new Blackjack bombers, working on a new stealth bomber, etc. etc.

None of that is expansion. Russian and Soviet AShMs were nuclear capable before, and quite frankly there were a lot more of them 25 years ago.

Bombers? Seriously? The Russian fleet size has been flat for a while now after big decline post 1991. Tu-160 production is very limited in air-frames/year. B-21 will be produced faster than PAK-DA and Tu-160 combined probably, so this is a weird angle to take in terms of Russia increasing stockpile relative to the US.
Fleet might even shrink with attrition on Tu-22M3s and Tu-95 front, and modernization on those is slooowwww.

Burevestnik so far has blown up a few times and done little else.

Status-6 is indeed a new "approach", but I doubt it will effect total numbers deployed to any serious degree (I'd assume it will be counted as part of deployed strategic warheads allowed)...and not to mention it is a direct response to Russian concerns about US ABM activity over the years. Hint, increasing the US nuclear strategic arsenal won't change anything about Status deployment.
Yeah, none of this changes the fact that they're adding new nuclear capable systems.

???? New ones to replace older ones, which were deployed in greater numbers, and especially in light of ABM developments.

Whatever to keep the narrative that little underarmed US is going to be outmuscled by big bad foreigner nukes I guess.
 
New ones to replace older ones, which were deployed in greater numbers, and especially in light of ABM developments.

Whatever to keep the narrative that little underarmed US is going to be outmuscled by big bad foreigner nukes I guess.
Really? What's Kinzhal replaceing? What's Status-6 replacing? SARMAT will carry more warheads than R-36. What's the nuclear cruise missile replacing? Oniks is replacing P-700 allowing a greater number on the same platform. The US retired ALL tactical nuclear weapons aside from the B61. Not so Russia. Any of this registering?

"The United States now has, according to unclassified estimates, approximately 230 nonstrategic nuclear weapons, with around 100 deployed with aircraft in Europe and the remaining stored in the United States. Estimates vary, but experts believe Russia still has between 1,000 and 2,000 warheads for nonstrategic nuclear weapons in its arsenal."

 
just think.... if we know where they are stored and we can get a shot on them with an arlegh burke just yeet a tomohawk into the top of the bunker and detonate all the nukes that are stored there
 
A couple dozen Kinzhal platforms.....vs much more numerous Kh-22/32, KSR, Granit, Moskit platforms that have been retired with (in many cases) no 1-1 for replacement. Talk about "vast expansion"!

Oniks, give me a break lol. There have been ZERO submarines modified to carry it yet (instead of Granit), there will only be a few ever, and combined 949AM/885M numbers right now (or in 10 years) won't be close to how many combined SSN/SSGN platforms the RuNavy had in 1991, or 2001 for that matter.

Sarmat can potentially carry more than R-36, but it is strategic, treaty limited, and there is no indication they are planing to increase deployed warhead count or want to either. Doesn't help your argument one bit.

Neither Poseidon nor Burevestnik is deployed yet, and they will add what, a dozen or two weapons? Made SPECIFICALLY because of US behaivior in regards to ABM? what a weird take to use that as examples of Russia building up its nuclear force vis-a-vis the US deployed force. Personally I think both bad ideas that have emerged because of flubs of diplomacy.

It is like you are purposefully trying to completely be blind to relative strategic situations, relative conventional armaments and respective strategic weapon fleet purposes.
Do I really need to explain why Russia needs tactical nukes more than the US? Are Russian tactical nukes a strategic threat to the US? Facepalm.
I remember 10 years ago there were claims Russia still had like 10,000 tactical nukes. Glad to see that has gone down to 1-2k "estimates" now.
 
A couple dozen Kinzhal platforms.....vs much more numerous Kh-22/32, KSR, Granit, Moskit platforms that have been retired with (in many cases) no 1-1 for replacement. Talk about "vast expansion"!

Oniks, give me a break lol. There have been ZERO submarines modified to carry it yet (instead of Granit), there will only be a few ever, and combined 949AM/885M numbers right now (or in 10 years) won't be close to how many combined SSN/SSGN platforms the RuNavy had in 1991, or 2001 for that matter.

Sarmat can potentially carry more than R-36, but it is strategic, treaty limited, and there is no indication they are planing to increase deployed warhead count or want to either. Doesn't help your argument one bit.

Neither Poseidon nor Burevestnik is deployed yet, and they will add what, a dozen or two weapons? Made SPECIFICALLY because of US behaivior in regards to ABM? what a weird take to use that as examples of Russia building up its nuclear force vis-a-vis the US deployed force. Personally I think both bad ideas that have emerged because of flubs of diplomacy.

It is like you are purposefully trying to completely be blind to relative strategic situations, relative conventional armaments and respective strategic weapon fleet purposes.
Do I really need to explain why Russia needs tactical nukes more than the US? Are Russian tactical nukes a strategic threat to the US? Facepalm.
I remember 10 years ago there were claims Russia still had like 10,000 tactical nukes. Glad to see that has gone down to 1-2k "estimates" now.
"expanding" ≠ "expanded". The new systems they're building, the huge advantage in numbers, etc. shows the direction they're going, It's not about TODAY. This should be obvious.
 
Forgot to post this the last day:

Further to that:

Unfortunately despite all the hype not very promising.
 
 
its turned into an arms race for who can have the biggest and most intercontinental nukes
I doubt the South is trying develop nuclear weapons (if they are, they're doing a damn good job at hiding their development). I say this mainly because it would probably cause problems with their closest military allies, like the US and Japan, as well probably causing an escalation of the ongoing arms race on the Korean Peninsula and sparking international condemnation, and probably causing protests around the world, giving them a bad image, something that I doubt they'd wish for. It is theorised that their ballistic missiles are aimed for precision strike of high value targets, such as radar and missile sites, airfield and even individuals.

A few more articles about the North and South Korean tests:


 
its turned into an arms race for who can have the biggest and most intercontinental nukes
I doubt the South is trying develop nuclear weapons (if they are, they're doing a damn good job at hiding their development). I say this mainly because it would probably cause problems with their closest military allies, like the US and Japan, as well probably causing an escalation of the ongoing arms race on the Korean Peninsula and sparking international condemnation, and probably causing protests around the world, giving them a bad image, something that I doubt they'd wish for. It is theorised that their ballistic missiles are aimed for precision strike of high value targets, such as radar and missile sites, airfield and even individuals.

A few more articles about the North and South Korean tests:


could it be possible for either russia north korea or china to disguise a civilian merchant/freight ship and have ballistic missiles close enough to washington DC without our knowledge??
 
could it be possible for either russia north korea or china to disguise a civilian merchant/freight ship and have ballistic missiles close enough to washington DC without our knowledge??
I guess, but that's both illegal, dangerous, and they have nuclear submarines which do the job already, in even more stealth.
 
More like a legal grey area, even before arms control & other international treaties started going the way of the Dodo. And even way before that, various attempts to outlaw Q-Ships and the like over the years all pretty much ended in dismal failure. If done right, a disguised missile ship could in theory remain in an operational area unsuspected for far longer than a conventional powered missile sub. And economically free up nuclear subs for deployment in other areas.
 
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Yeah, but it is politically risky, and I doubt that nations like the US, Russia or China, with large fleets of ballistic missile submarines, would be desperate enough to risk it.
 
its turned into an arms race for who can have the biggest and most intercontinental nukes
I doubt the South is trying develop nuclear weapons (if they are, they're doing a damn good job at hiding their development). I say this mainly because it would probably cause problems with their closest military allies, like the US and Japan, as well probably causing an escalation of the ongoing arms race on the Korean Peninsula and sparking international condemnation, and probably causing protests around the world, giving them a bad image, something that I doubt they'd wish for. It is theorised that their ballistic missiles are aimed for precision strike of high value targets, such as radar and missile sites, airfield and even individuals.

A few more articles about the North and South Korean tests:


could it be possible for either russia north korea or china to disguise a civilian merchant/freight ship and have ballistic missiles close enough to washington DC without our knowledge??

Why would Russia or China possible want to do that?
 
Why would Russia or China possible want to do that?
Decapitation strikes come to mind. Surprise (and, if necessary, deniable) EMP attacks are another possibility.
Yeah, but a nuclear sub would have the same effect, but also be more stealthy. It would be rather suspicious to see a container ship with missile silos on it, whereas you can't even see the submarine, because it's submerged.
 
Why would Russia or China possible want to do that?
Decapitation strikes come to mind. Surprise (and, if necessary, deniable) EMP attacks are another possibility.
Yeah, but a nuclear sub would have the same effect, but also be more stealthy. It would be rather suspicious to see a container ship with missile silos on it, whereas you can't even see the submarine, because it's submerged.
Except you wouldn't see a container ship with missile silos. You'd see a container ship with containers. Thousands of standard ones and maybe one or two "imposters". The shipping line might not even be aware the containers are on their ship. Make it so your container can receive satellite communications, and ensure it gets loaded on the top level. As soon as GPS tells the container it's reached launch range, away they go. Maybe one doesn't launch and just nukes the container ship to destroy evidence and witnesses.
 

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