... Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) approved the sale of F-35A Lightning II multirole combat aircraft to Germany. This came as a climax of quite a protracted and a rather tragicomic story of Germany’s
Luftwaffe
purchasing a new carrier of nuclear weapons to carry out “NATO nuclear sharing.”
Alexander Yermakov:
Rifle Hanging on the Wall
The Legacy
Today’s NATO nuclear sharing is a legacy of the Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR, which has effectively evolved into a policy relic ...
On June 29, 2020, European Leadership Network (ELN) held an online international expert workshop on nuclear weapons and new technologies.
The workshop was attended by leading independent think tanks performing research on international ... ... technology development that could have a destabilizing effect on strategic stability. They also discussed possible new formats for arms control, that could have a deterrent effect on the arms race in space, high-precision weapons, AI weapons, etc.
Russian side ...
... of multi-tech, multi-actor, complex, fast-paced, poorly understood, cross-domain effects is a phenomenon and a problem in its own right, independent of the dangers in any given technology domain.
The goal(s) should be:
Strategic stability
Minimising harms
These goals cannot be achieved without:
Prioritisation
New paradigms for arms control
Prioritisation. We suggest the following criteria for action:
Prioritise the pursuit of existential common interests between states
Prioritise tackling those technologies ...
... strategic weapons, no longer appear to be a feasible scenario. Judging by the reports presented by the conference participants, the arms race in this area has already begun, and the temptation to gain an edge in new weapons is too great for the countries to ... ... use of autonomous systems and artificial intelligence. It is also highly desirable for the prohibition on the automated use of nuclear weapons to be set forth on an inter-country level, at least in the form of a declaration. Otherwise, minutes “gained” ...
... scenario. Today, Iskander missiles periodically deployed in Kaliningrad are permanently deployed in Luga in the Leningrad region, and they are moved to Kaliningrad for military exercises or in case of an escalation.
The situation with New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is more complicated. New START expires in a few years. Right now, we cannot say whether it will be followed by START IV and a further reduction in nuclear weapons, since it is disadvantageous for Russia in the current circumstances. Since the United States has a significantly larger number of precision-guided non-nuclear long-range weapons, further reductions could result in Russia’s nuclear ...
... great powers. The end of World War II ushered in the nuclear era. Ever since that time scholars have been ceaselessly debating two problems
[1]
. First: Is a direct military showdown between the nuclear powers possible? And if so, will they dare use nuclear weapons? Second: Can nuclear war be interpreted according to the Clausewitz formula whereby “war is the continuation of politics by other means”?
There is also a third view point that I find appealing: the emergence of nuclear weapons ...