#STRATDELA

Nuclear deterrence between countries with roughly comparable capabilities is most stable under two conditions: First, each must possess nuclear arsenals that are survivable enough to maintain an assured ability to inflict unacceptable damage even after a nuclear attack. Second, their adversaries must understand that such a condition prevails—and that attempting to escape this condition of mutual vulnerability will be futile.

The Trump administration’s Golden Dome plans would—intentionally or not—negate these two principles, which generations of US nuclear strategists have broadly acknowledged as conducive to stability. By projecting the vision of a comprehensive homeland missile defense, the administration stirs longstanding fears in Russia and China that the United States does not seek stability but instead seeks to escape vulnerability altogether through expansive investments in missile defense technologies.

The Air Force has tapped sites in Oregon to build its first two new Over-the-Horizon Radars, capable of detecting inbound missile threats from up to 4,000 nautical miles away.

In a notice published in the Federal Register last week, the service announced it was initiating an environmental review expected to last two years across two regions in the state.

There is still no comprehensive budget from DOD laying out their costs or predicting the full cost of implementing the current U.S. nuclear weapons modernization program.

Dark, established in 2022 by veterans of European defense contractors MBDA and Thales, aims to demonstrate a space weapon that would launch from a modified commercial aircraft, navigate to a target in orbit, grab it and safely deposit it in the South Pacific Ocean.

The Paris-based company has attracted about $11 million in venture funding and expanded to 40 employees, focusing on propulsion technologies, radar and other sensors needed to detect and inspect space objects.

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Dark’s flagship product, called Interceptor, represents a new approach to space defense — one that mimics how military aircraft respond to aerial threats, said Laheyne. Government satellite operators today have limited options when their assets face potential dangers such as counterspace weapons designed to interfere with satellite operations.

MDEB = Multi-Domain Effects Battalion; HHC = Headquarters and Headquarters Company; MI = Military Intelligence; ERSE = Extended Range Sensing Element; ID = Information Dominance; LRFB = Long-Range Fires Battalion; HHB = Headquarters and Headquarters Battery; LRHW = Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon; MRC =Mid-Range Capability (also referred to by the Army as Strategic Mid-Range Fires (SMRF)); HIMARS = High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems; FSC = Forward Sustainment Company; IFPC = Integrated Fire Protection Capability; BSB = Brigade Support Battalion.

But the center-left Social Democratic Party, part of Merz's ruling coalition alongside his center-right Christian Democrats, argue that there is no need to look for alternatives to the U.S. because Trump has not indicated he plans to pull out of NATO and abandon Europe.

“We don't doubt NATO's nuclear deterrent, because there are official commitments made by U.S. government officials supporting it,” Schmid said.

The German lawmaker warned that a French nuclear umbrella that protects only some EU member countries would create instability and stressed that "there can't be two different security zones in Europe.”

“When it comes to defense, there are subjects that require our attention much more urgently than nuclear deterrence — conventional defense capabilities in particular," he added.

“It is the formative purpose of the Space Force to achieve space superiority—to ensure freedom of movement in space for our forces while denying the same to our adversaries,” said Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman. “We must be prepared to employ capabilities for offensive and defensive purposes to deter and, if necessary, defeat aggressors that threaten our vital national interests.”

The Army has so far outlined plans for four incremental PrSM developments on top of the baseline Increment 1 missiles. Increment 2 is centered on the development of a new dual seeker system that enables the engagement of moving targets on land or at sea. Increment 4 is about increasing PrSM’s range from just under 310 miles (500 kilometers) to 620 miles (1,000 kilometers), and Increment 5 aims to extend that reach even further. Increment 3, which the Army now envisions as coming after Increment 4, is about “enhanced lethality.”

For Increment 3, the Army “will put a different warhead in there,” Lockheed Martin’s Withrow explained. “They have yet to decide. It’s still in the S&T [science and technology] community. So they’re looking at various warhead options.”

“I know they’ve looked at things like Coyote, they’ve looked at Hatchet, things like that,” Withrow added, stressing that she was not aware of any final decision having been made.

“The Air Force continues to assess its options and design concepts as part of doing good systems engineering. While no decision has been made, we expect Sentinel to use predominantly AF-owned real estate to build new missile silos instead of re-using MMIII silos,” an Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense.