08.02.2020, Washington.
Low-power nuclear warheads placed on US submarines provide new opportunities for the president of the United States, Pentagon chief Mark Esper said at a press conference on February 7.
With the help of this new dangerous ammunition, the US wants to “deter conflict”, “but if necessary, we want to be able to fight and win,” Esper said.
The topic W76-2 warheads he was talking about have are equivalent to 5 kilotons in TNT, which is several times less than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Several Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarines are being equipped with these munitions.
By new opportunities, the US Secretary of Defense means implementing a proportionate response in the event of a limited nuclear conflict, without further snowballing into a global nuclear war. According to experts, the danger of low-power nuclear warheads on strategic carriers lies in lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
