CSDS News and Analysis 1504 (Feature Report: “Getting the Multi-Domain Challenge Right,” LLNL Center for Global Security Research)

 

Issue

1504

Jan. 17, 2022

Welcome to USAF Center for Strategic Deterrence Studies News and Analysis. As part of the CSDS mission to develop U.S. Air Force, Department of Defense, and other government leaders to advance the state of knowledge, policy, and practices within strategic defense issues involving nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, we offer the government and civilian community a source of contemporary discussions.

Feature Report

“Getting the Multi-Domain Challenge Right,” Center for Global Security Research/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dec. 2021.

CGSR: "The essays collected here offer some answers to these and related questions. They grow out of a campaign of activity that has been underway at the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) since 2015, which is aimed at understanding the requirements of integrated strategic deterrence. That campaign has included more than 30 workshops and more than 100 speakers. Some of the papers presented here were developed for a capstone workshop in spring 2021 aimed at surfacing key
insights and lessons." Read Report.

Nukes and Deterrence, Counter-WMD, and Arms Control in News and Research

NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND DETERRENCE

• GBSD, LRSO, B-21, NGAD All Face Lengthy Delays if Continuing Resolution is Extended, Brown Warns Congress (Air Force Magazine)
The GBSD program is already facing pressure from some corners of Congress, and the Air Force’s Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missile has taken criticism after multiple test failures.

• Boeing Pledges Expanded German Industry Involvement if the Nation Buys the F-18 (Defense News)
It also spotlights once again Germany’s unique requirement for a nuclear weapons-capable fighter-bomber that would carry on the Tornado assignments.

• Nuclear-Use Cases for Contemplating Crisis and Conflict on the Korean Peninsula (Nautilus via RAND)
The authors use two distinct lenses to identify the conceivable nuclear-use scenarios.

• The Nuclear Posture Review: What It Is and Why It Matters. (NTI)
The NPR lays out a U.S. administration’s approach to nuclear weapons policy, based on an extensive internal policy review.

COUNTER-WMD

• In New Agreement US, Japan Team Up on Counter-Hypersonic Research (Breaking Defense)
The new agreement was made public just a day after North Korea’s ballistic missile test launch.

• Space Missile Warning System to Include MEO Backup in Case of Attack: Tournear (Breaking Defense)
The development program — budgeted at a whopping $14.4 billion through 2025 — is facing criticism from all four congressional committees with oversight powers.

• A South Korean Village is Protesting U.S. Plans for THAAD Missile Defense Upgrades (NPR)
The launchers are part of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD system that the United States installed in 2017.

US ARMS CONTROL

• Going Ballistic (Carnegie Middle East Center)
In an interview, Ankit Panda discusses reports that China is helping Saudi Arabia to develop a missile program.

• Nuclear Arms Control After the Biden-Putin Summit (Congressional Research Service)
Presidents Biden and Putin reaffirmed “the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”

• In Russia Talks, US Floats Deal to Limit Missiles and War Games (Defense News)
In October, the U.S. Army, unbound by INF, tested its Lockheed-made Precision Strike Missile missile at a range beyond 499 kilometers.

COMMENTARY

• Arms Control between Nuclear-Armed Rivals (Arms Control Wonk)
"To complicate matters further, dangerous military practices have become a hallmark of all four nuclear rivalries."

• Spiking the Problem: Developing a Resilient Posture in the Indo-Pacific with Passive Defenses (War on the Rocks)
“Absent a crisis, the Defense Department finds it difficult to significantly change America’s global posture.”

• Nuclear Weapons and the ‘Doublethink’ Conundrum (Cipher Brief)
“The U.S. created the Triad, the ability to deliver strategic nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union or any other threatening country by strategic bombers, ground-based ICBMs or sub-launched SLBMs.”