Former Defense Secretaries Harold Brown and James Schlesinger say the “increasing likelihood” that a terrorist group will obtain nuclear weapons necessitates giving US Presidents the option of “prompt, precise, non-nuclear strikes.” In a Washington Post op-ed, the two elder statesmen make a cogent case for the Pentagon plan to employ a new type of conventional warhead on two of the Trident missiles on US submarines. They refute charges by Congressional critics who fear such a move would lead to the de-nuclearization of US subs or to inadvertent launch by less stringent conventional protocols or to Russia mistaking a launch as an attack. Read it here.
B-21 Raider First Flight Now Postponed to 2023
May 20, 2022
The Air Force says the B-21 Raider won't make its first flight until 2023; about a six-month delay from the last official estimates. No reason was given for the delay. While other programs have recently chalked up schedule slips to supply chain and labor shortages, the Air Force has said…