US lawmakers demand to equip ships with nuclear cruise missiles
Pentagon executives face tough stance from US lawmakers over decision fleet postpone the development of the SLCM-N sea-launched nuclear cruise missile.
The Senate Armed Services Committee expressed concern about the plans of acting. Minister of the Navy Thomas Harker to cut funding for the creation of a nuclear CD. As explained in the Navy, equipping ships with this type weapons will create budgetary and logistical problems. The main obstacle to the development of a new sea-launched cruise missile is the operational constraints that the Navy will face when deploying nuclear weapons on surface ships or nuclear attack submarines.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, US ships have carried only conventional weapons since the nuclear Tomahawks (TLAM-N) were withdrawn from the Navy's arsenal in the early 1990s.
Placing nuclear weapons on board ships will require strict adherence to the security protocol. In the past, she was provided with a special detachment of marines. In addition, US Navy ships may not be allowed into ports, since some countries have introduced a ban on visiting them with nuclear weapons pennants.
For example, in 1984, New Zealand strained relations with the United States after it refused to admit the US destroyer Buchanan (DDG-14) for the fact that the Navy did not disclose information about whether the ships possessed nuclear weapons. This decision was reversed only in 2016.
The Democrats are categorically opposed to the development of low-yield nuclear weapons in opposition to the Republicans.
- stated the current head of the White House Joe Biden back in 2019.
Image of the Tomahawk CD with a nuclear warhead:
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