The Air Force will complete its scheduled reduction of deployed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles from 450 to 400 sometime in April, the Associated Press reported. The Department of Defense planned the reduction in 2014 in order to comply with the terms of the New START nuclear forces reduction treaty made with Russia in 2010. At the time, DOD expected to complete the reduction by Feb. 5, 2018. At an inventory of 400, the ICBM missile fleet will be the smallest it has been since the early 1960s, according to AP. In January, USAF also completed the conversion of 41 B-52H bombers to non-nuclear status in order to comply with the treaty. These long-planned reductions of nuclear forces continue despite President Donald Trump’s assertions last month, in an interview with Reuters, that he believes the US has “fallen behind on nuclear weapons capacity” and that he wanted to see the nation return to the “top of the pack.”
Details Murky as ARRW Falls Short in Second Test
March 24, 2023
The second all-up flight of the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon on March 13 fell short of a fully successful test, but the Air Force isn’t saying what went wrong with the Lockheed Martin-built hypersonic missile. The defense giant's Missiles and Fire Control division recently said the ARRW is "ready…