Military.com News: The U.S. commander in South Korea said Thursday that he believes North Korea has the ability to fit a nuclear warhead to a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. “I believe they’ve had the time and the capability to miniaturize” a nuclear weapon to arm North Korea’s new KN-08 intercontinental ballistic… read more
International Business Times: Russia has added a nuclear-powered submarine to its navy forces, bringing the total number of Borei-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines in its fleet to four, the Russian news agency Tass reported Tuesday. The Defense Ministry is expected to build another 11 nuclear submarines by 2020 despite concerns about the navy’s questionable underwater safety… read more
BBC: The US could spend more than $1 trillion (£675bn) over the next 30 years modernising its arsenal of nuclear weapons. It wants to make them faster and more accurate. Other nuclear states are trying to do the same, raising questions about their commitment to disarm. Are we entering a new nuclear arms race? The… read more
Press TV: Russia says its aerospace forces are scheduled to conduct eight aerial and missile maneuvers in the southern part of the country this year. “Overall, there will be eight Aerospace Defense Force drills in 2015 with air and missile defense units,” said Alexei Zolotukhin, the spokesman of Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO) on Sunday.… read more
Voice of America: U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has called the latest test-firing of short-range missiles by North Korea a “reminder” of the dangers on the Korean Peninsula and an affirmation of the need to show support of staunch allies in the region. “That’s the reason I’m going there,” he said. Speaking to reporters at… read more
Defense News: WASHINGTON — US intelligence believes North Korea is capable of miniaturizing a nuclear weapon and putting it on its KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile, the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said Tuesday. It has been widely assumed that North Korea would look to develop the technology to place a nuclear… read more
Bloomberg: U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter arrived for talks in Seoul on Thursday after North Korea fired a pair of short-range missiles in the face of U.S.-South Korean military exercises. “If it was a welcoming message to me, I’m flattered,” Carter told reporters in Tokyo before flying to South Korea. The launches are “a… read more
Arutz Sheva: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu kept up his criticism of the framework nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday, pointing out that it fails to address Tehran’s long-range missile arsenal that he argues is meant to enable a nuclear strike against Israel. “Why doesn’t the framework address Iran’s intercontinental ballistic missile program whose sole purpose is to carry nuclear payloads?” he asked on his… read more
Japan Times: WASHINGTON – A group of U.S.-based researchers warned Tuesday that North Korea has some 1,000 ballistic missiles that can reach Japan and South Korea. The potential capability of delivering weapons further makes North Korea appear more advanced than other countries at a similarly early stage in the development of their nuclear arsenals, the… read more
The Diplomat: Last week, Evan Braden Montgomery, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, a breeding ground of Andy Marshall acolytes (see: “Is the Pentagon’s Andrew Marshall the Leo Strauss of Military Analysis”), testified in front of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on what they dubbed “managing China’s missile threat.” Montgomery provided… read more