According to anonymous sources in the Pentagon, Russia is planning to expand its arsenal of so-called tactical nuclear weapons. The Kremlin is also modernizing several underground nuclear command and control facilities for protecting the military and civilian leadership in a nuclear war. The alleged expansion exploits a loophole in existing arms control agreements that only address strategic, city-busting weapons and not smaller tactical nuclear weapons meant to be used on armies.

In a report published today, the Washington Free Beacon claims Russia is preparing to sharply expand its arsenal of nuclear weapons, from approximately 7,000 to 8,000 by fielding a new generation of low-yield tactical nuclear weapons. Russia is currently limited by arms control agreements with the United States to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads at any one time. In other words, Russia’s nuclear bombers, submarines, and intercontinental ballistic missiles on alert at air bases, at sea under the world’s oceans, and rolling around in armed convoys across Russia’s expanse can only field 1,550 nuclear weapons at any one time—extras must be set aside in the non-deployed stockpile.

Most of these so-called “strategic” nuclear weapons have yields of 100 kilotons or greater, or six times the explosive yield of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. They’re meant for attacking an adversary’s nuclear arsenal, devastating their military bases, and if necessary, flattening cities. Russia is believed to have a total of 7,000 nuclear weapons, both strategic and tactical, deployed and non-deployed.

Russian Navy ballistic missile submarine Vladimir Monomakh. Getty Images

So-called “tactical” nuclear weapons, also known as “non-strategic nuclear weapons,” typically have yields of 100 kilotons or less and are ideally meant to attack enemy armies or fleets. These weapons are not covered by arms control agreements—although the United States wanted a separate treaty covering tactical nuclear weapons with Russia, relations deteriorated before an agreement could be set in place.

According to the Free Beacon, Russia is exploiting the lack of an agreement on tactical nuclear weapons to aggressively increase its nuclear arsenal. Russia apparently wants to field an overall arsenal of 8,000 weapons, strategic and tactical, and it can probably get away with it by increasing its holdings of tactical nuclear weapons, some of which would be put on strategic weapons systems such as ICBMs.

Russian Navy submarine Kolpino launching Kalibr cruise missiles. Missiles like Kalibr could deliver tactical nuclear warheads with precision against defended targets hundreds of miles away. Getty Images

Russia is reportedly researching a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons in the kiloton (equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT) to 10 ton range. Some of these weapons would be “clean”, that is releasing relatively little radiation. Others, so-called “neutron bombs,” are the exact opposite, with very little blast effect but releasing a lot of radiation to kill enemy troops protected in bunkers and armored vehicles. The Free Beacon also mentions nukes that release an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and weapons that release large amounts of x-ray and gamma ray radiation.

Experts differ widely on how many tactical nuclear weapons Russia currently has. The Soviet Union reportedly had more than 20,000 weapons during the Cold War, but most were dismantled as they grew obsolete. Nuclear weapons are also expensive to maintain and Russia had little money to maintain them after the breakup of the USSR. The Free Beacon states that Russia has between 3,300 and 10,000 tactical nuclear weapons. The Federation of American Scientists, however, puts the number at 2,000.

What is the point of this buildup? There are several possibilities. One is that Russia feels threatened by America’s growing ballistic missile defenses, particularly the Ground Based Interceptor capable of shooting down intercontinental ballistic missiles. Although the system is meant to shoot down handfuls of nuclear-tipped missiles from rogue states such as North Korea and Iran and can’t hope to defend against a determined Russian nuclear assault, it still represents a threat to Russia’s nuclear deterrent. If the Americans ever try to scale GBI up to meet the Russian strategic threat, Russia can simply put lower-yield tactical nuclear weapons on ICBMs.

Russian Msta-S howitzers could also deliver tactical nuclear shells on the battlefield.

Another possibility is that Russia’s conventional arms buildup is not panning out the way it had hoped, and tactical nuclear weapons are a cheaper way to maintain a strong defensive posture. Grand plans for a new Storm-class aircraft carrier, next-generation Armata tanks, and the Sukhoi Su-57 fighter have failed to shake out, either from technical difficulties or a downturn in the Russian economy that made them unaffordable. Nuclear weapons were the guarantors of Russian security in the difficult years following the Cold War, and Moscow may be buckling down for a hard winter of NATO economic sanctions and depressed oil and raw material prices.

A third, more frightening possibility is that Russia may be preparing to change the way it uses nukes. A ten-ton-yield nuclear weapon, precisely delivered on the battlefield, is much more useful than a megaton-sized weapon that annihilates cities. Russia could look to blend conventional tactical warfare and tactical nuclear weapons with yields and radiation releases so small they would confer a significant battlefield advantage while placing Russia’s enemy on the horns of a dilemma: Let it go or respond with nuclear weapons of its own.

In addition to the planned increase in tactical nuclear weapons, Russia is also renovating “two major Russian command-and-control centers, along with several smaller facilities.” One such facility is Kosvinsky Mountain, designed as an evacuation point for Moscow’s leadership in the event of a nuclear war. Here’s the mountain in Google Maps—note the buildings under construction and the roads that go halfway up the mountain and then abruptly stop.

Source: Washington Free Beacon



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