WASHINGTON, October 13. /TASS/. The United States should be prepared for a possible conflict with China and Russia at the same time, expanding its modernization program for nuclear and conventional weapons, the congressional commission on nuclear posture said in a report.
The Bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States includes former high-ranking officials from the US Department of State, the Department of Defense and the National Nuclear Security Administration of the US Department of Energy.
"The objectives of US strategy must include effective deterrence and defeat of simultaneous Russian and Chinese aggression in Europe and Asia using conventional forces. If the United States and its Allies and partners do not field sufficient conventional forces to achieve this objective, U.S. strategy would need to be altered to increase reliance on nuclear weapons to deter or counter opportunistic or collaborative aggression in the other theater," the document’s section devoted to Europe and Asia says.
Commission’s recommendations
According to the document’s authors, "threats [posed by Russia and China] are such that the United States and its Allies and partners must be ready to deter and defeat both adversaries simultaneously."
They also believe that "the current modernization program should be supplemented to ensure US nuclear strategy remains effective." Among other things, the commission recommends that the Pentagon boosts the construction of nuclear-powered vessels, with particular emphasis on nuclear-powered submarines.
Also, "a number of commissioners believe it is inevitable that the size of the US nuclear stockpile and the number of delivery systems should increase."
"The size and composition of the nuclear force must account for the possibility of combined aggression from Russia and China. US strategy should no longer treat China’s nuclear forces as a ‘lesser included’ threat. The United States needs a nuclear posture capable of simultaneously deterring both countries," the document’s authors said.
They also suggest addressing "the need for US theater nuclear forces deployed or based in the Asia-Pacific theater."
Experts also believe that the United States should "develop and field homeland IAMD that can deter and defeat coercive attacks by Russia and China, and determine the capabilities needed to stay ahead of the North Korean threat."
"The Commission’s assessment is that the United States must consider the possibility that Iran will become a nuclear state during the 2027-2035 timeframe," the report says.
It also urges to expand the country’s conventional potential.
Konstantin Vorontsov, the deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, told the First Committee of the UN General Assembly (on disarmament) earlier this month that "The West continues to raise the stakes, dangerously coming too close to the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers." In his words, Russia "finds potential escalation as a result of the US plan to deploy weapons previously banned under the Washington-denounced Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) to be.
In the diplomat’s opinion, Russia cannot rule out "further negative developments over the strategic arms reduction treaty, which has been suspended due to destructive US policies.".