Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Loss of ICBMs: Biden will almost certainly abolish this indispensable deterrent
Washington Times ^ | Oct 6, 2020 | Peter Vincent Pry

Posted on 10/06/2020 1:36:58 PM PDT by Brilliant

...a Biden administration will almost certainly abolish unilaterally America’s 400 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles.

ICBMs, according to U.S. Strategic Command, are “the bedrock of our strategic posture” but the Minuteman III, a half-century old, needs to be replaced by a new ICBM. The anti-nuclear left has persuaded top Democrats ICBMs are unnecessary.

ICBMs are the most important weapon in the U.S. nuclear Triad — faster, more combat-ready, and more responsive than strategic bombers and missile submarines.

Everyday, anytime, in the few minutes required to receive an Emergency Action Message and turn two keys, U.S. ICBMs can launch 400 of the most powerful, accurate, effective nuclear warheads, delivering them anywhere in 30 minutes or less.

The awesome capabilities of U.S. ICBMs for decades prevented the Cold War from becoming World War III. Today, U.S. ICBMs continue their role as the most immediate and most powerful deterrent...

Yet, almost immediately after the 2018 elections gave Democrats control of the House, the House Armed Services Committee held hearings to make the case for abolishing U.S. ICBMs and nuclear bombers — two-thirds of the nuclear Triad — and relying only on ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).

House hearings also proposed halving U.S. SSBNs from 12 to six boats, barely enough to sustain just two SSBNs on patrol at sea...

President Clinton’s former Secretary of Defense, William Perry, and many other Democrat defense professionals likely to influence a Biden administration, vociferously advocate banning ICBMs...

Democrats now subscribe to nuclear deterrence minimalism, which theory assumes that only a small number of SSBNs are needed to deter nuclear war, and that nothing can go wrong with their warheads, missiles or the submarines — assumptions which defy all of military history...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: biden; election; nationalsecurity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last
Biden’s first payoff to the Chinese.
1 posted on 10/06/2020 1:36:58 PM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Followed shortly by the nuclear annihilation of the USA, which is what we will deserve for voting Biden, if we don’t already deserve it for many of our other votes of the last 50 years.


2 posted on 10/06/2020 1:41:41 PM PDT by cmj328 (We live here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant
Loss of ICBMs: Biden will almost certainly abolish this indispensable deterrent

I suppose in his typical fashion, he won't even require any reciprocal actions from the russkies or the chicoms?

3 posted on 10/06/2020 1:42:47 PM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Until I see them breaking rocks in the hot sun I'll be cleaning my guns!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant
House hearings also proposed halving U.S. SSBNs from 12 to six boats, barely enough to sustain just two SSBNs on patrol at sea...

Six boats. That's pitiful. The UK has four Vanguard-class SSBNs, and France has four Triomphant-class SSBNs.

4 posted on 10/06/2020 1:50:00 PM PDT by Spirochete
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

I don’t actually think Biden, when elected, is going to do anything other than resign from office post haste. I keep reading, Biden is going to do this and that, but it’s all a laughable joke.


5 posted on 10/06/2020 1:55:21 PM PDT by KobraKai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Biden would rubber stamp into law anything Schmucker and Policy hand him.


6 posted on 10/06/2020 1:59:52 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant
"ICBMs, according to U.S. Strategic Command, are “the bedrock of our strategic posture” but the Minuteman III, a half-century old, needs to be replaced by a new ICBM."

Guess I'm out of touch. I thought our secretive nuclear equipped Tridents that cruise around the world was our first line of nuclear deterrent. I thought land based ICBM's were becoming obsolete. As for high level bombers, there are so many ground to air missiles that supposedly can take them down.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

7 posted on 10/06/2020 2:02:13 PM PDT by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamo nauseated. Also LGBTQxyz nauseated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

” faster, more combat-ready, and more responsive than strategic bombers and missile submarines”

Nothing is more reliable, or FASTER than a Trident D5 sitting 1,000 miles away. Nothing.

And bombers are far more responsive than any missile as you can call them back.

The author’s hyperbole got in the way of an otherwise good article.


8 posted on 10/06/2020 2:18:27 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Joey will insist they test a few on the US .


9 posted on 10/06/2020 2:42:08 PM PDT by wally_bert (Transmission tone, Selma)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant
...a Biden administration will almost certainly abolish unilaterally America’s 400 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Relax, Biden will contract the job out to China (with a handsome payout to Hunter Biden for handling the paperwork). Nothing to worry about. /s

10 posted on 10/06/2020 2:45:05 PM PDT by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Single warhead ICBMs are a Russian warhead sponge. It takes two warheads to take out each ICBM silo and ICBM command center, 800-1000 russian warheads, which leaves the US in the numerical superiority after a first strike given the treaty enforced equality of 1550 warheads and bombers.

ICBMs are not necessarily on a hair trigger since a russian first strike would not leave the US in an inferior position with remaining weapons, but actually a somewhat superior position numerically, even if it went perfectly which is no guarantee. If the Russians can’t strike first and disarm or significantly reduce our retaliation then there is deterrence.

Get rid of the ICBMs and we will have 800 warheads that will be freed up for the russians to retarget, plus that would have required a HUGE massive attack on the mainland US to even hope to be successful that can then be focused on SSBNs and Bombers. Two bases each plus those bombers subs deployed which is only half the inventory (ICBMs are 98 percent ON LINE) and hiding at sea which can have issues with Anti Sub Warfare and Anti air defenses... The idea with a “Triad” is that no technological advance can make all three vulnerable at the same time.

God these liberals are stupid and it may be our demise.


11 posted on 10/06/2020 3:10:09 PM PDT by Wildbill22 ( They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton William Abrams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

We had the same ilk back in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.


12 posted on 10/06/2020 3:15:18 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (If you're neverTrump at this point, drop the charade, you're just never United States.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

The left will double down on globalism and exporting all jobs and everything bad for this country. If Trump loses then Americans deserve it. They know wth is going on with illegals, exporting of jobs, and globalism in general. Yet they want some establishment crook in office? then what can be done.


13 posted on 10/06/2020 3:23:43 PM PDT by snarkytart (The media reads teleprompters for a living and reiterates Dem talking points, they are ignorant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

IF it’s sitting 1000 miles away.

There are about 400 Minuteman IIIs. Supposing that, at most, you’d have seven Ohios ready to fire at any time, that’d be 560 warheads. But they’re not all going to be close.

It’d be cutting the force by more than a third.


14 posted on 10/06/2020 3:33:03 PM PDT by furquhart (Would it not be easier to dissolve the people and elect another?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: KobraKai

Kamala will do far worse!


15 posted on 10/06/2020 3:33:11 PM PDT by BwanaNdege ( Experience is the best teacher, but if you can accept it 2nd hand, the tuition is less!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Biden’s first payoff to the Chinese.

- -
Actually, Harris will auction all US military equipment from ships to planes, from tanks to rifles to pay for the Green New Deal and all the costs associated with Open Borders and free stuff for all comers.


16 posted on 10/06/2020 3:49:44 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: furquhart

The Trident boats are not subject to the MIRV treaty restrictions that ICBMs are.

So, let’s just say it’s only 5 boats at sea. Each with 24 D5 missiles, each carrying, on average, 8 warheads. They can carry 12 each.

960 nukes, more accurate than the MMIII. And almost always closer, arriving much sooner. Sometimes less than 10mins.

It’s a true, first strike/counterforce weapon system and when combined with the Pershing II was the real winner of the cold war.

MMIIIs are limited to a single warhead by treaty. And that can’t be changed out overnight.


17 posted on 10/06/2020 5:34:17 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

The whole concept of “minimum deterrence” is flawed.

Why in gods world would you want the absolute minimum, on the very edge of NOT deterring? Wouldn’t that ENCOURAGE our enemies to cheat/lie/seek advantage to break the point where deterrence fails?

It denies the advancement of technology and weapon development, assuming we are at the advantage.

All while the russians have deployed their first generation of hypersonic thermonuclear weapons,,,, while we catch up.


18 posted on 10/06/2020 5:38:42 PM PDT by Wildbill22 ( They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton William Abrams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

Trident subs have all been reduced to 20 missiles each. Not the original 24, unless we remove ourselves from the New Start treaty.

They all have verified counts by the New Start treaty every six months and that is posted on line by the dept of state. I bet we don’t cheat but the Russians have cheated on every treaty we have ever signed with them. We average 4-6 warheads per Trident II D-5 missile as declared by the treaty provisions every six months verified.

Latest MM3 missile launch in the last few weeks had a three warhead payload.

We do have an “upload” capability that is impressive but if you add up all the new missiles the Russians are adding like their Buluva SSBN missile (10 warheads capability) or the replacement of the SS-18 Satan, which has more than a dozen, their upload is also impressive.

The question is how much you want to trust the Russians with a weakly verifiable New Start treaty provisions...


19 posted on 10/06/2020 5:48:44 PM PDT by Wildbill22 ( They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton William Abrams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Wildbill22

WEEKLY. Not Weakly.


20 posted on 10/06/2020 5:50:39 PM PDT by Wildbill22 ( They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton William Abrams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson