Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

a host of issues <strong>and</strong> will not serve as a brake on the
developing nuclear arms race. The author concluded
that Kearn’s report contained no surprises, but it did
address the main trend lines in force development
among the nuclear powers. 10
Victor Litovkin reported on the BASIC Trident
Commission paper but then added comments from
Aleksei Arbatov, which put a very different interpretation
on the nuclear arms race. Arbatov characterized
both U.S. <strong>and</strong> Russian policy as modernization of arsenals
of reduced size <strong>and</strong> stated that China was the
only state with the economic <strong>and</strong> technological means
to radically recast <strong>and</strong> exp<strong>and</strong> its nuclear arsenal.
Litovkin did note that the British debate was about extending
the life of the U.S. Trident D5 missiles on Britain’s
four SSBNS, which was a form of international
cooperation on ballistic missile development. Litovkin
asserted that Britain <strong>and</strong> U.S. cooperation put them
in violation of the “International Code of Conduct
against Ballistic Missile Proliferation.” 11 Litovkin followed
this article with a second 2 days later. This time
Arbatov’s observations were nowhere to be seen, <strong>and</strong>
the title emphasized a race in nuclear warheads. Now
Litovkin stated that the British specialists had asserted
that many members of the nuclear club were engaged
in a race to perfect new nuclear weapons <strong>and</strong> delivery
systems. Litovkin did see the United States <strong>and</strong> Russia
as the leaders in nuclear force modernization <strong>and</strong> outlined
what each was doing to extend the life of their
existing arsenals <strong>and</strong> to add new nuclear capabilities.
Litovkin called attention to new ballistic missiles in India,
China, <strong>and</strong> Israel. The British report about foreign
nuclear developments was supposed to contribute
to Britain’s own debate over Trident renewal, which
depended on U.S. <strong>and</strong> UK cooperation. 12 The nuclear
120