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The Return of Battlefield Nuclear Weapons
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By Robyn Hutchins & Adam Lowther
January 05, 2022
The Return of Battlefield Nuclear Weapons
A new Nuclear Posture Review is scheduled for release in early 2022, and it will likely diminish the role of nuclear weapons. The administration plans to adopt "integrated deterrence," a concept that claims to integrate non-military aspects of American power into deterrence strategy. However, such change may cause a deterrence failure and possible loss of a war against Russia.
Evidence of the growing relevance of what are interchangeably called non-strategic, tactical, or battlefield nuclear weapons became apparent in 2014 when Russia violated the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). Given its economic and strategic limitations, Russia has pursued battlefield nuclear weapons as an asymmetric advantage against the United States. It has developed short- and medium-range nuclear missiles that can rapidly strike North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member-states—primarily with low-yield (0.1 to 10 kiloton) warheads.
Russian Approach
Although there is some debate over Russia’s approach to nuclear weapons use, it appears Russia may have an “escalate to deescalate” strategy that relies on the use of what we call battlefield nuclear weapons to win a possible war against a superior conventional NATO force maneuvering to defend a member of the alliance.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2022/01/05/the_return_of_battlefield_nuclear_weapons_810660.html
