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

the United States was expected to fly missions against
Russia, as well as against comm<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> control centers.
Targets featured in these simulations were located
throughout Europe, the Pacific, South-East Asia,
Indian Ocean, <strong>and</strong> even the continental United States.
Short-range weapons (such as tactical l<strong>and</strong>-based missiles
or tactical aircraft) could not reach these targets.
Instead, simulations featured medium <strong>and</strong> heavy
bombers carrying gravity bombs, short-range missiles,
<strong>and</strong> air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs).
<strong>Nuclear</strong> warheads for submarine launched cruise
missiles of various ranges, which are stored in
12th Glavnoye Upravleniye Ministerstvo Oborony
(GUMO) 13 facilities at naval bases, appear to be another
component of the forces Russia could use in a conflict
with <strong>NATO</strong>. Russian naval comm<strong>and</strong>ers admit that
they simply cannot confront the U.S. Navy—in the
case of a direct clash between Russia <strong>and</strong> the United
States—without reliance on these assets. Accordingly,
crews of surface ships <strong>and</strong> submarines have reportedly
trained to mate warheads to SLCMs <strong>and</strong> launch
them. 14 In fact, Vice-Admiral Oleg Burtsev, deputy
chief of the Navy’s Main Staff, declared that the role of
TNWs on attack nuclear submarines would increase.
“The range of tactical nuclear weapons is growing, as
is their accuracy. They do not need to deliver highyield
warheads; instead it is possible to make a transition
to low-yield nuclear warheads that could be
installed on the existing types of cruise missiles,” he
asserted. 15
The 2010 Military Doctrine did not change these
provisions. The mission of de-escalation was apparently
not even discussed in depth, at least not at the
public level; attention was concentrated almost exclusively
on the new attempt at military reform. The only
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