US Strategic Command chief Gen. Kevin Chilton believes that the nation is best served by maintaining a nuclear triad of land- and sea-based missiles and long-range bombers for the indefinite future. He rejects the idea that the nation is headed for a “Dyad” of land- and sea-launched ballistic missiles alone, as some defense analysts recently projected. “Each leg has its own unique strength and overlapping strengths,” Chilton said at a Washington, D.C., conference Wednesday, and the bombers especially have flexibility for non-nuclear missions. That resonates with USAF’s new mantra that, with few exceptions, all systems need to have application across many missions. The new long-range strike platform can be outfitted with nuclear hardening for a marginal increase in cost and should be, he said. “You get a lot for that kind of investment,” he said. And, he added, “There’s still a need for a gravity-type weapons approach.”
Hypersonic ARRW Readied for Booster Flight
March 8, 2021
An AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missile is being readied for its first booster flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the Air Force announced March 5. The missile that flies within the next month will not be an all-up round. Instead, the test will run the missile through…