Pentagon to test new missile as US pulls out of nuclear treaty

[rangerrebew]

Pentagon to test new missile as US pulls out of nuclear treaty

By Nicole Gaouette and Barbara Starr, CNN

Updated 5:54 PM ET, Thu August 1, 2019


 
US counters Russian aggression with new missile 02:12

Washington (CNN)The US military is set to test a new non-nuclear mobile-launched cruise missile developed specifically to challenge Russia in Europe, according to a senior US defense official.

The news comes as the US is expected to formally withdraw Friday from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow, putting an end to a landmark arms control pact that has limited the development of ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

Analysts fear the US test will mark the start of a new arms race with Moscow.

https://us.cnn.com/2019/08/01/politics/us-missile-test-inf-treaty/index.html

[txradioguy]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday that the U.S. is pulling out of a major arms-control treaty with Russia.

Citing alleged violations by Russia regarding the pact that's been a centerpiece of arms control since the Cold War, Pompeo said the U.S. is suspending its obligations and will terminate the deal entirely if Russia does not return to full compliance in six months.

He said the U.S. "has fully adhered" to the pact for more than 30 years, "but we will not remain constrained by its terms while Russia misrepresents its actions. We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other."

The American withdrawal had been expected. It follows years of unresolved disputes over Russian compliance with the 1987 pact, known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty. It was the first arms control measure to ban an entire class of weapons: ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 310 miles and 3,400 miles. Russia denies that it has been in violation.

U.S. officials also have expressed concern that China, which isn't part of the treaty, is deploying large numbers of missiles in Asia that the U.S. can't counter because it's bound by the treaty.

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, backed the Trump administration after Friday's announcement.

“I support the withdrawal of the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. ... For the past several years, the Russian government has systematically violated the INF Treaty and deployed systems that undermine the stability that the treaty helped create. Russian actions represent a material breach of the treaty, and it is abundantly clear: the United States is the only country limited by the INF Treaty," he said in a statement.

“The Russian government has had endless opportunities to change their bad behavior, and over the past 60 days has proven its disinterest in doing so. The time has come to set the treaty aside and develop alternative avenues toward the security the treaty once provided.”

NATO also said Russia is in breach of the pact, urging Moscow to come back into compliance during the six months that remain before the United States abandons it. NATO said that if Moscow fails to destroy all new missile systems that Washington insists violate the treaty, "Russia will bear sole responsibility for the end of the treaty."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-pulling-out-of-cold-war-era-arms-control-treaty-with-russia-pompeo-says

[edpc]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States plans to test a new missile in coming weeks that would have been prohibited under a landmark, 32-year-old arms control treaty that the U.S. and Russia ripped up on Friday.

Washington and Moscow walked out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty that President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed in 1987, raising fears of a new arms race. The U.S. blamed Moscow for the death of the treaty. It said that for years Moscow has been developing and fielding weapons that violate the treaty and threaten the United States and its allies, particularly in Europe.

[snip]

But the U.S. also sees an upside to exiting the treaty. Washington has complained for years that the arms control playing field was unfair. U.S. officials argued that not only was Russia violating the treaty and developing prohibited weapons, but that China also was making similar non-compliant weapons, leaving the U.S. alone in complying with the aging arms control pact.

https://www.apnews.com/65d75aef66234b07abd82143762b7493

[edpc]

Certainly, we can develop these systems, but we’d need cooperation from allies to deploy them.