While Russia has done enough to comply with the New START treaty so far, the country’s approach to other treaties and continued emphasis on its arsenal is “problematic,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of US Strategic Command. The US has had ample access through New START to review Russia’s nuclear arsenal, including conducting Open Skies flights and 18 inspections each year, said Haney on March 11 at an Air Force Association-, National Defense Industry Association-, and Reserve Officer Association-sponsored symposium in Silverdale, Wash. “That transparency is important, inspections are important,” he added. While Russia has kept with New START, it has not kept with demands of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which requires Russia to eliminate medium- to short-range weapons, Haney said. Russia has also been focused on keeping its arsenal updated, and especially keeping it “mobile” and not in fixed sites. “The world’s gone mobile and gone underground,” Haney said, emphasizing that the US needs to “maintain strategic stability.”
The final version of the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill calls for adding $1.2 billion to the Space Force’s research and development accounts, an increase that’s mostly split between two efforts: expanding the service’s low-Earth orbit data transport network and boosting its space-based missile warning and tracking capabilities.
