Report: US Needs Updated Nuclear Power to Keep Up With New Threats

Mitre and The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies have released a joint report highlighting the need to modernize the U.S. military’s aging nuclear triad to address emerging threats, particularly from Russia and China.

Majority of the aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles of the country’s nuclear triad today already reached or are near to 50 years in service, David Deptula, Air Force veteran and dean of Mitchell Institute, said in the report.

He added the Navy’s Ohio-class submarines carrying the sea-launched ballistic missiles are also close to 40 years in the field.

“Given the age of these systems that are fundamental to the continued success of the triad, urgency is growing to modernize these nuclear forces,” Deptula said.

To update the U.S. nuclear power, the Mitre-Mitchell report recommended the U.S. modernize its nuclear command, control and communications for better control of its weapons.

A modern NC3 system should include or provide terrestrial and space-based sensors that monitor the globe for threats, reliable transmission of data and a command and control support systems for analyses of threats.

According to the report, the military last provided the system with major upgrade in the 1980s.