U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues; CRS Report to Congress Order Code RL33640

Woolf, Amy F.

Editore: Congressional Research Service, Washington DC, 2007

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[4], 27 pages. Figures. Tables. Footnotes. Printed on one side only. The author was a Specialist in National Defense in the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division. The author has written: "A graduate degree in public policy was a natural path for someone with an undergraduate degree in political science. But my career in nuclear weapons and arms control began at Stanford, in the Political Science Department's undergraduate classes on nuclear weapons and arms control. I continue to interact with the scholars and experts at CISAC, which allows me to hold on to my links to the Farm. In addition, because I work for Congress, and truly understand how the U.S. government works, I get to step back and view the policy process with the perspective of a political scientist." "I work for the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress, providing expert information and analysis to Congress on issues related to U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons and arms control. I also speak to students and other groups outside Congress, providing insights into the role that Congress plays in supporting U.S. nuclear weapons and arms control policies and in providing oversight and funding to U.S. nuclear weapons programs." During the Cold War, the U.S. nuclear arsenal contained many types of delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons. The longer range systems, which included long-range missiles based on U.S. territory, long-range missiles based on submarines, and heavy bombers that could threaten Soviet targets from their bases in the United States, are known as strategic nuclear delivery vehicles. At the end of the Cold War, in 1991, the United States deployed more than l0,000 warheads on these delivery vehicles. That number has declined to less than 6,000 warheads today, and is slated, under the 2002 Moscow Treaty, to decline to 2,200 warheads by the year 2012. At the present time, the U.S. land-based ballistic missile force (ICBMs) consists of 450 Minuteman III ICBMs, each deployed with between one and three warheads, for a total of 1,2000 warheads. The Air Force recently deactivated all 50 of the 10-warhead Peacekeeper ICBMs; it plans to eventually deploy Peacekeeper warheads on some of the Minuteman ICBMs. It has also deactivated 50 Minuteman III missiles. The Air Force is also modernizing the Minuteman missiles, replacing and upgrading their rocket motors, guidance systems, and other components. The Air Force had expected to begin replacing the Minuteman missiles around 2018, but has decided, instead, to continue to modernize and maintain the existing missiles. The U.S. ballistic missile submarine fleet currently consists of 14 Trident submarines; each carries 24 Trident II (D-5) missiles. The Navy has converted 4 of the original 18 Trident submarines to carry non-nuclear cruise missiles. The remaining submarines currently carry around 2,000 warheads in total, a number that will likely decline as the United States implements the Moscow Treaty. The Navy has shifted the basing of the submarines, so that nine are deployed in the Pacific Ocean and five are in the Atlantic, to better cover targets in and around Asia. Disbound but held by a clip in upper left corner Updated version--Xerox type reproduction.

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• Titolo: U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues; CRS Report to Congress Order Code RL33640
• Editore: Congressional Research Service, Washington DC
• Data di pubblicazione: 2007
• Condizione: Good
• Cataloghi dei venditori:
  • Cold War
  • Nuclear Weapons