STRATCOM Says We have No History On This Regarding Nuclear Russia, China
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: February 8, 2022 02:20PM UTC
Last Modified: February 8, 2022 02:20PM UTC
STRATCOM - Air Force Major General Ferdinand B. Stoss, STRATCOM director of plans and policy issued a warning at the 2022 virtual Nuclear Deterrence Summit saying that the US and allies have not 'faced this type of threat in over 30 years' and that 'we have no history of this' regarding a nuclear China and Russia.
Stoss said “I think we can agree that the United States, our allies, our partners—we have not faced this type of threat in over 30 years. And not just a threat, though. Like I mentioned before, this is the first time ever that we have a three-party nuclear peer dynamic. And we have no history of this. This is epic. And I don’t think we’ve fully dealt with all the ramifications that this is going to have as we march into the future, but we absolutely need to".
"Today, both Russia and China have the capability to unilaterally escalate at any level of violence, across any domain, into any geographic location, … and to do so at a time of their choosing" Stoss stated.
He claimed that Russia is a greater short term threat than China however, as it develops 'novel weapons' with a great amount of destructive capability but questionable safety saying they are building "everything from their … hypersonic anti-ship vehicles to their Skyfall nuclear-powered intercontinental-range cruise missiles".
"I’ve heard others opine, they call it a ‘flying Chernobyl.’ And it’s not far from the truth, what with their safety, or lack thereof, with that capability" Stoss stated.
He also noted China's 'breathtaking' capabilities. "Why are they doing this strategic breakout? Well, we don’t exactly know. They are very opaque as to what they are doing with nuclear, and they always have been" he said.
"But, you know, perhaps this is just one more brick to put into the wall to cement their capacity to play a much bolder role, certainly in the region and around the world, and they think that they need this nuclear underpinning".
He said that the kind of growth we're saying doesn't happen by accident. It takes heavy planning and investment. "To be sure, to have this type of a breakout and the capabilities they’re bringing online would have taken them years to plan, to develop, and then to actually build".
He noted that the United States needs to modernize many different capabilities at the same time. "One common thread that I think we have across the department: The three legs of the triad, our NC3, and our nuclear weapons complex is, we took a knee on these systems".
"And, unfortunately, now that we’ve taken that knee and we’ve accepted these risks, we’ve found that … we no longer have the option to take that risk, that we’re doing just-in-time modernization, really across the board. That may not be applicable to each and every system, but it certainly is when you look at the whole".
