Big move by US as it arms submarines with nuclear cruise missiles, first time in 30 years; Iran, China, or Russia, who is the target?

US Nuclear Weapons: In a significant move, the USA has decided to arm its submarines with nuclear-armed cruise missiles after a gap of nearly three decades. In keeping with reports, the U. S. Navy has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for a Sea-Launched Nuclear Cruise Missile (SLCM-N) in a bid to create a versatile cruise missile system on its submarines.

The US Navy’s RFI aims to deploy an operational cruise missile system by 2024, with prototype tests vulnerable to be carried within the following three years from US’ SLCM-N Virginia-class submarines.

As per a report by Interesting Engineering, the U. S. introduced nuclear-armed SLCMs within the 1980s when it deployed the TLAM-N, a nuclear-armed variant of the Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile (TLAM), which boast reasonably a host 2,five hundred kilometers (around 1,550 miles). The US Navy had deployed the TLAM-Ns on both its warships to boot as its submarines.

Then again, the TLAM-N missiles were faraway from US warships and submarines, following the decision of President George Bush Sr. to withdraw all Sea-based tactical nukes. All TLAM-N’s were consequently removed by mid-1992, however it the U. S. Navy kept the choice open to redeploy them on submarines if an when needed in due course.

Notably, the Obama administration in 2010, had recommended the retirement of the TLAM-N system, and in 2018, the Trump Administration ordered the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), that advocated the event of a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile or SLCM-N.

A ‘flexible’ nuclear option

The NPR argued that SLCM-Ns are needed to give ‘flexible options’ on hand the total way all through the U. S. nuclear arsenal as their nuclear missiles were designed to give a boost to deterrence capabilities against regional threats to US bases and The USA’s allies.

Proponents of the SLCM-N system contend that it provides a ‘flexible’ nuclear option because the system could be deployed in reasonably a choice of regions without the U. S. needing to deploy its nuclear assets allied territory. The SLCM-N is poised to play a key role as a sea-based nuclear deterrent lower than the strategic level on the nuclear escalation ladder.

The SLCM-N, equivalent to the U. S. US Navy’s now-discontinued TLAM-N, is conceived as a low-yield nuclear weapon launched from submarines, adding a new dimension to the maritime segment of the U. S. nuclear triad.

Who’s the which which one can imagine target?

While there are no specific ‘targets’ within the conventional sense, however it, experts suspect that ongoing crisis within the Middle East, fueled by Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza, which has brought the region on the point of a full-scale Iran-Israel war, could be one in every of the motivations at the back of US’ decision to arm its subs with nuclear missiles.

One more major reason could be the recent escalation within the Russia-Ukraine war, with Moscow amending its nuclear doctrine, giving it more ‘flexible’ options to deploy its nukes.