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

siles <strong>and</strong> aircraft that place all of <strong>NATO</strong> within their
reach. New nuclear threats to the security of Europe
loom on the horizon, some of which will require selfinterested
U.S. deterrence capabilities as well as those
necessary for mutual security among Allies.
It is apparent that the United States has embarked
on substantial reductions in resources allocated to
national security—a cyclical feature of the American
political culture that follows every major war with
about a decade of decline in dollars spent on defense
of roughly 30 percent from the wartime peak.
A world characterized by continuing pressures for
nuclear weapons proliferation is a world in which
medium <strong>and</strong> smaller nuclear-armed states may see
their nuclear roles change as well. Some long-time experts
wonder if the United States were to remove its
nuclear weapons from Europe, would France or the
United Kingdom (UK) find itself with newfound influence,
responsibility, <strong>and</strong> burden. The role of U.S.
nuclear weapons in Europe will thus, inevitably, be
reexamined.
While acknowledging the pressure on resources
<strong>and</strong> despite the retirement of the U.S. Navy’s nucleartipped,
attack submarine-launched Tomahawk L<strong>and</strong>
Attack Missile (TLAM-N), the authors point to expressed
commitments by the United States to continue
to maintain a Triad of nuclear weapon capabilities
for central deterrence <strong>and</strong> to maintain <strong>and</strong> modernize
both fighters <strong>and</strong> bombers capable of delivering
nuclear weapons for extended deterrence. The <strong>Nuclear</strong>
Posture Review (NPR) also expresses intent to conduct
a full-scope life extension on the B-61 nuclear bomb
explicitly to sustain its capacity for deployment in Europe.
Neither author agrees with the notion that missile
defenses could supplant the function performed
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