[Daaave]

"Ivanov said the program would support the development of Russia's strategic nuclear forces."

The Peacekeeper

"As a result of weapons reduction treaties, the Minuteman III missile is now the USA's only remaining land-launched nuclear missile."

"The last MX "Peacekeeper" missile was deactivated yesterday (Sept. 19, 2005). Deactivation began in October 2002 after President Bush set a plan in motion in 2001 to reduce the USA's missile forces from 6,000 to between 1,700 and 2,200. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to follow a similar plan."

"The MX Peacekeeper was the most powerful, accurate missile the USA has ever deployed, capable of carrying up to 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads to any point in the world with unparalleled accuracy."

(The Minuteman III has been operational since 1968.)

defenseindustrydaily.com/

[gafusa]

Very worrying. Why we care about treaties with Russia over strategic missiles is beyond me. We should completely scrape our Russo-centric nuclear policy. Russia is not a competitor. Meanwhile as we reduce and weaken our forces, the Chinese, who actually matter, a building nukes as fast they can. Plus Russia continues to modernize its missile forces. And we just weaken ours. Who is is beyond this suicidal policy? Fortunately Trident is all that really matters, land based weapons are mostly for show. However we need to be beefing up, not decreasing our forces. Like putting MIRVs back on our Minutemen to start. The Minuteman is probably better than the Peacekeeper, while less powerful, the ability to launch on command makes it a better deterrent. And we need a missile defense, no one can compete with us in that area. We need new and more SLBMs, and the B-3 and Hypersoar.