The Defense Department will undertake a nuclear posture review “this spring,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told reporters Tuesday. The review will not only consider the numbers and types of nuclear weapons—bombers and bombs, silo-based missiles and submarine-based missiles—but issues such as the yield of the warheads and the specific types of munitions. This “fresh look at the nuclear enterprise” will “determine where this administration wants to go” with the nuclear force. Goldfein said he believes such a review will again bear out the need for the Triad, and specifically the silo-based missiles, because they are a “cost-imposing” capability that an enemy would have to target in a first strike. The review will also determine “what does deterrence look like in the 21st century?” when the array of tools available to national leaders includes cyber weapons and other kinds of duress. (See also: Nuclear Posture Review Coming Soon)
The Air Force kicked off one of its biggest exercises this week with the latest edition of Bamboo Eagle, featuring combined virtual and live training scenarios focused on test the command-and-control “nervous system” leaders need to operate on a complex joint battlefield spread over vast distances.
