Nuclear weapons
The Pentagon budget, like other federal spending, will be under new pressure regardless of the outcome of the election, forcing some major acquisition programs to be cut or withdrawn. The Biden administration is expected to pay special attention to a specific set of programs: nuclear weapons.
One program considered particularly weak is the Long-Range Standoff Weapon, or LRSO, an air-launched cruise missile, which will be provided on Air Force B-2 and future B-21 bombers and is under development by Raytheon. .
The ground-based leg of the nuclear triad, intercontinental ballistic missiles deployed in underground silos across the American West are also likely to come under new scrutiny.
But the Force was awarded a 13 13 billion contract by the Air Force in September for a so-called ground-based strategic deterrent to Northrop Grumman, and it could be difficult for the incoming administration to return.
Still, “I know that the need for an ICBM force in the Biden administration will be a topic of discussion, as will the LRSO,” said Robert Work, who served as Secretary of Defense in both the Obama and Trump administrations. “There will be discussions about whether it is necessary.”
Weapon control
With the change in the portfolio of nuclear weapons, new emphasis will be placed on arms control treaties.
The Democratic Party platform aims to see the Trump administration recklessly abandon several nuclear and other arms treaties with Russia, including the mid-range nuclear force treaty and the Open Sky Treaty. Trump retreated from both.
The platform states that the United States and the world have become less secure with its people considering nuclear threats, serious arms control treaties and abuses from nuclear agreements, and a reckless embrace of new arms competition.
Biden may have an early chance to go in different directions.
The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limits the number of nuclear weapons deployed on both sides to 1,550, is due to expire on February 5, 2021, a few weeks after the inauguration, unless Washington agrees to increase it before Washington and Moscow. Until done. Five years.
Trump administration officials have indicated they are open to expansion if they can get a Russian agreement to temporarily stabilize all nuclear weapons while negotiating a new treaty covering more classes of nuclear weapons. But Biden, who approved it last year and promised to extend it for a full five years, called the new START an “anchor of strategic stability” and a “foundation for a new arms control agreement.”
War powers
Biden promises to reverse the path of the Trump administration when it comes to the president’s fighting powers. It means re-engaging with Congress to repeal and rewrite the powers for the use of military force. It was first adopted by Congress in 2001 to fight terrorism, and then again in 2002 under the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The Democratic Party’s platform states that “we will use force only when the national security is secure and when the objective is clear and necessary to be achieved, and where congressional approval is granted.” “That’s why we will work with Congress to repeal the decades-old authorization for the use of military force and replace them with a narrower and more specific structure that will ensure we protect Americans from the dangers of terrorism as we end permanent wars.”
To be sure, this is something that the Obama administration tried but failed to find bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill.
