July 29, 2021
Tactical Nukes on Submarines? Why Navy Planners aren’t Convinced
The W76-2 is a less powerful variant of the W76-1 warhead deployed on 13.5-meter-tall Trident II ballistic missiles deployed on the U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class submarines.
by Sebastien Roblin
Here's What You Need to Remember: But there’s a much scarier risk: Russia likely wouldn’t be able to distinguish a Trident carrying a tactical warhead from a strategic one. And a Trident launched from the Atlantic at a tactical target in Eastern Europe may look very much like it could be headed to wipe out Russia’s leadership in Moscow instead.
It was a small, obscure-sounding item in the 2020 defense budget—a mere $19.6 million to procure W76-2 warheads, a sum which could pay for just one quarter of a single F-35A stealth fighter.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/tactical-nukes-submarines-why-navy-planners-aren%E2%80%99t-convinced-190758
