The U.S. has two types of non-strategic nuclear weapons: the B61 bomb and the Tomahawk sea-launched cruise missile. Approximately 800 B61s exist in three versions, while 320 W80 warheads are available for the Tomahawk. None of these warheads are covered by existing arms control agreements. Non-strategic B61 bombs are assigned to US F-16C/D, F-15E, and […]
Archives
The Nautilus Institute Nuclear Strategy Project: The Warfighter’s Assessment Post-START II Arms Restrictions
In December 1996, a few months after the White Paper on post-START II arms control was completed and only a few months before the U.S. and Russia agreed in Helsinki to a START III Treaty of 2,000-2,500 warheads, STRATCOM published the results of another force structure study on post START II arms reductions. As with […]
1994 Nuclear Posture Review
This web page gives a brief description of the 1994 NPR and provides links in the right-hand bar to documents (pdf format) released by the Department of Defense at the time, as well as documents since obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The Objective of the 1994 NPR In response to President Clinton’s direction […]
Nuclear Posture Reviews
The debate that followed the Bush administrations Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) in late-2001 and early-2002 has highlighted a need for information about how the review compares to the previous NPR conducted by the Clinton administration in 1994. What is new and what is a continuation of efforts from the 1990s? A comparison was difficult during […]
The Nautilus Institute Nuclear Strategy Project: White Paper Post-Start II Arms Control
After the Nuclear Posture Review was completed in September 1994 and START I entered into force three months later, STRATCOM began preparing for what would come after START II. To ensure international support for an indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) at the NPT Review and Extension conference in New York in April […]
The Nautilus Institute Nuclear Strategy Project: Sun City Extended Study
During the Nuclear Posture Review deliberations in 1994, STRATCOM published the Sun City Extended study. Emerging less than a year after completion of the original Sun City study from 1993, the new study contained important changes compared with its predecessor. Although the declassified Sun City Extended is heavily redacted, the new study’s perhaps most interesting […]
Missile Defense Planning
The Bush administration has increased the prominence of missile defense systems in US military planning, but efforts have been underway for a long time to increase the role of missile defense systems. The public debate so far has focused on whether various future missile defense system will work as intended, but less attention has been […]
Strategic Bombers
The United States operates two types of long-range strategic nuclear bombers: B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress. Both are capable of delivering nuclear bombs (B61 and B83) and the B-52 can also deploy air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM and ACM). A third aircraft, the B-1, has been referred to by the US Air Force as a “conventional-only” […]
B-1B Lancer Nuclear Rerole Plan
Referenced in: “The Unruly Hedge: Cold War Thinking at the Crawford Summit” Arms Control Today December 2001. Although the B-1B is widely described by military officials as a “conventional-only” bomber, the Pentagon maintains a “nuclear rerole plan” under which “spare” nuclear bombs for the aircraft are maintained in the Active Reserve Stockpile of U.S. Strategic […]
Panelists’ Biographies
“Theater Missile Defense in East Asia Perspectives on Regional Implications” Missile Defense Initiative Panel Seminars San Francisco, CA — August 13, 2001 Los Angeles, CA — August 14, 2001 Panelists’ Biographies LI Bin Li Bin is currently associate professor and director of the Arms Control Program at the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University […]