Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS) Outreach Journal
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USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS) Outreach Journal CUWS Outreach Journal 1236 7 October 2016 Feature Item: “Is North Korea Building a New Submarine?” A 38 North exclusive by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.; Published by 38 North.com; 30 September 2016. http://38north.org/2016/09/sinpo093016/?utm_source=38+North+Bulletin+093016&utm_camp aign=38+North&utm_medium=email Commercial satellite imagery strongly suggests that a naval construction program is underway at North Korea’s Sinpo South Shipyard, possibly to build a new submarine. While there is no direct evidence that the program is for a boat to carry the ballistic missile currently under development, the presence of an approximately 10-meter-in-diameter circular component outside the facility’s recently renovated fabrication hall may be intended as a construction-jig[1] or as a component for the pressure hull of a new submarine. However, it is also possible the ring may be related to another construction project. If this activity is indeed to build a new submarine, it would appear to be larger than North Korea’s GORAE-class experimental ballistic missile submarine (SSBA), which has a beam of approximately 7 meters.[2] U.S. Nuclear Weapons 1. NNSA Head: ‘All Bets Are Off for Warhead Modernization Under Sequestration’ 2. US Carries Out Two Successful Flight Tests Using Mock Nuke Bombs 3. Sled Track Simulates High-Speed Accident in B61-12 Test U.S. Counter-WMD 1. THAAD Battery from Texas to Be Deployed in Seongju: Sources 2. DOD IG Auditing BMDS Supply Chain Risk Management U.S. Arms Control 1. USAF Returns Mothballed B-52 Bomber to Service 2. USA's Hypersonic Programme Could Rile Russia and China 3. Russia-US Plutonium Treaty Halt to Have No Adverse Effect on Nuke Disarmament 4. Russia Adds Hundreds of Warheads Under Nuclear Treaty 5. Russia Calls on US to Return to Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty Homeland Security/The Americas 1. Russian Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 Bombers to Patrol Airspace Between Hawaii and Japan Issue No.1236, 7 October 2016 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies| Maxwell AFB, Alabama https://cuws.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama Asia/Pacific 1. North Korea Appears to Be Building Larger Ballistic Missile Submarine 2. North Korea’s Nuclear Program Prompts Some in South to Call for Own Deterrent 3. No Discussions Between South Korea, US about Preemptive Strike on North Korea: Amb. Ahn 4. US Experts on N. Korea Call for Direct Dialogue, Reciprocity 5. Chinese Physicists Develop Quantum Radar That Can Detect Stealth Jets 6. Top Secret Chinese Nuclear Base Opens to Foreigners 7. Here's Why North Korea's Missile Program is Far More Advanced Than You Think 8. ‘Activity Seen’ at N. Korean Nuclear Test Site 9. 60% of Americans Feel Threatened by N.Korean Nukes 10. China Scholars, Policy Makers Begin Talking about Supporting Surgical Strike on N.Korea 11. Rising Moves Detected in DPRK's Missile Launch Site: S.Korea 12. Pentagon Studied Future Japan Nuclear Arsenal and War with China Europe/Russia 1. Nuclear Submarines Construction Set to Start 2. Russia Launches Massive Nuclear War Training Exercise that 'Involves 40 Million People' Middle East 1. IAEA Chief Says Iran Sticking to Nuclear Deal 2. Iran Plans to Launch Three Satellites into Space 3. Iranian Space Agency Chief: Iran Interested in Connecting with NASA 4. US Democrats Pushing for Extension of Iran Sanctions 5. Persian Gulf Martyrs Brought US Humiliation 6. Iran, China Start Co-Op on Arak Facility India/Pakistan 1. US Objects to Pak’s Nuclear Threat to India, Calls It ‘Irresponsible’ Commentary 1. The Arrogance of Ideology 2. Dumping America's ICBMs Would Be a Big Mistake 3. The Rise of Hypersonic Weapons Return to Top Issue No.1236, 7 October 2016 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies| Maxwell AFB, Alabama https://cuws.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS) Outreach Journal Defense News – Springfield, VA NNSA Head: ‘All Bets Are Off for Warhead Modernization Under Sequestration’ By Aaron Mehta October 4, 2016 WASHINGTON — If Congress does not ease budget caps for the coming fiscal year, it will be almost impossible to keep a quintet of vital nuclear warhead modernization program on track, warns the head of the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA). “If the relief we got through the Bipartisan Budget Act, which eased, modestly, the caps for fiscal year ‘16 and ‘17, are not reincarnated in some form for FY18, 19 and beyond, all bets are off. I’ll say that again: all bets are off. And god forbid if sequestration rears its ugly head again, they’re doubly off,” NNSA head Frank Klotz told an audience gathered at the Minot21 Conference on Capitol Hill Sept. 22. Concerns from arms of the military about the impact of sequestration are not new, but the NNSA is in a particularly precarious position, as they are laying the groundwork for a major re-working of the weapons that provide the core of America’s nuclear arsenal, while also facing major deferred infrastructure bills that have left some facilities literally crumbling around workers. The NNSA is a semi-autonomous department within the Department of Energy. While the Defense Department manages the delivery systems of the nuclear force — ships, planes and missiles — NNSA has oversight over the development, maintenance and disposal of nuclear warheads. The agency is perusing a modernization plan known as the “3+2 Strategy,” under which the NNSA is consolidating the American arsenal of warheads into five variants. Five bomb and cruise missile warhead types are being consolidated into two replacement warhead designs, the W80-4 and the B61-12. Meanwhile, the five ballistic missile warheads now in service are being consolidated into three new interoperable warheads known as the IW-1, IW-2, and IW-3. During a Sept. 27 visit from reporters to the Sandia laboratory complex at Kirtland AFB, Brad Boswell, senior manager for Sandia’s Weapon Systems Engineering group, said the fact the B61-12 design replaces the B61-3, -4, -7 and -10 variants will lead to a number of cost-saving benefits. “It actually reduces complexity form a military maintainer standpoint,” Boswell said. “it reduces the cost of the maintenance of the stockpile, because less variants result in a simple logistics train we have to follow.” And, Boswell noted, the weapons simply need to be updated as they get older. “We have some known aging degradations within the B61 family today,” he warned. “The design continues to meet all its requirements and its expected to throughout the remainder of it stockpile life… but as we understand where the aging degradations are, we’re making sure we replace those with the designs.” The B61-12 recently entered the production engineering phase, with the first production unit of the weapon is planned for fiscal year 2020. (Klotz said an updated cost estimate for that program is still being developed and declined to offer a preview of dollar figure.) Improvements on the W-88, a key part of the W80-4 development, will enter the production engineering phase in February of 2017, Klotz added. Issue No.1236, 7 October 2016 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies| Maxwell AFB, Alabama https://cuws.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama But keeping those programs on track is unlikely to happen under a more constrained budget environment, he warned. “The first thing that happens” under lowered budget caps, “is you cancel programs, whether it’s a weapons program or construction program or some other program, you cancel it because you don’t have the money to pay for it” Klotz said. “The other thing you do is peanut butter spreading, move things to the right, and everybody here knows if you move thing to the right, schedule slips, the customer doesn’t get what he or she needs when he or she needs it, and costs go up inevitably,” he continued. “The third thing that will come back is they’ll blame DoE and NNSA for that. So I’m here to tell you that we have to stay on budget, so that’s what we’ll be advocating, at least as long as I’m around to continue advocating that.” Boswell acknowledged that if the budget situation changes, a “harder conversation that gets above my paygrade” has to be held about prioritizing funding. But for now, he says the program “has the resources it needs” to complete on schedule. “From a B61-12 perspective, the nation has been very supportive through the congressional levels to get us what we needed, and as a result we’ve been able to, at least through this point in the program, fulfill our level of commitment,” he said. http://www.defensenews.com/articles/army-pushes-to-counter-drones-as-threat-grows Return to Top RT (Russia Today) – Moscow, Russia US Carries Out Two Successful Flight Tests Using Mock Nuke Bombs 6 October 2016 Two surveillance flight tests that used mock B61-7 and B61-11 bombs have been accomplished successfully earlier this month, the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has announced. JTAs have no nuclear devices inside. Instead, they contain special recorders that gather information on the bomb performance during tests. The sensors and instruments inside the bombs enable the scientists and engineers to track their performance during the flight.