[Infowarrior] - USAF eyes return of mobile nuke missiles

[Richard Forno]

Really?  Really?  I mean ..... really?  Are they that fond to return to the Cold War?  (don't answer that) --rick


AIR FORCE EYES RETURN OF MOBILE NUCLEAR MISSILES

By Bob Brewin

http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2013/01/air-force-eyes-return-mobile-nuclear-missiles/60565/

The Air Force has dusted off plans more than two decades old to place fixed
nuclear missiles on rail cars or massive road vehicles to protect them from
a surprise attack.

The service also wants to explore alternatives to traditional missiles to
carry nuclear warheads, which could include hypersonic aircraft capable of
crossing the Atlantic Ocean in an hour, said Phillip Coyle of the Center for
Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, a former associate director for national
security and international affairs in the Obama administration¹s Office of
Science and Technology Policy.

On Monday, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base,
N.M., kicked off a study on modernizing or replacing its current fleet of
Minuteman III nuclear missiles housed in underground silos in Montana, North
Dakota and Wyoming. The work includes potential upgrades to the command and
control system.

The center said it wants industry and academic help in analyzing the future
of its Minuteman III nuclear missiles. The options include no upgrades,
incremental fixes, new missiles stored in silos, and new mobile or
tunnel-based systems.

In 1984, the Air Force began developing a small intercontinental ballistic
missile called the ³Midgetman,² which was carried on a massive,
blast-resistant 200,000-lb. wheeled vehicle. The project was canceled in
1992 after the Cold War ended.

In the late 1980s, the Air Force also hatched a plan to place 50 missiles
formerly stored in silos on rail cars deployed to seven states. This project
was canceled in 1991 after the Air Force shifted funding to nuclear bombers.

In September 2011, the Center for Strategic and International Studies
reported that China had developed a mobile missile system, the same month
Russia indicated it planned to revive its rail car based missile program,
which began in 1983 but was  scrapped in 2006.

Coyle said he was concerned that proliferation of mobile missile systems
could lead to another arms race. ³The Air Force will need to be careful that
they don't stir up a hornets nest with proposals for mobile basing or
advanced concepts other than the traditional booster and reentry vehicle.
The former could cause Russia or China to redouble their efforts on mobile
basing of ICBMs, set off a new kind of arms race, and weaken U.S. defenses,²
Coyle said.

He added that if the Air Force decides to pursue hypersonic aircraft to
deliver nuclear warheads, this could confuse nuclear armed countries such as
Russia, which would not be able to determine if supersonic aircraft
traveling at 4,000 miles per hour were carrying conventional or nuclear
warheads, and potentially react with a nuclear strike.

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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.