Proposed Deployment of 1,000 Nuclear Weapons
by John Isaacs [contact information]
March 11, 2009
From Sidney D. Drell and James E. Goodby, "What Are Nuclear Weapons For? Recommendations for Restructuring U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces," Arms Control Association (October 2007)
Operationally Deployed Force: 500 Warheads
- Three Trident submarines on station at sea, each loaded with 24 missiles and 96 warheads (a mix of low-yield W76s and high-yield W88s). Reducing the D5 missiles’ full complement of eight warheads to four per missile will substantially increase their maximum operating areas. The same numbers of missiles and warheads could be distributed on a larger number of Trident submarines in the interest of greater operational flexibility and survivability, albeit at higher operational costs.
- 100 Minuteman III ICBMs in hardened silos, each with a single W87 warhead.
- 20 to 25 B2 and B52H bombers configured for gravity bombs or air-launched cruise missiles.
Responsive Force: 500 Warheads
- Three Trident submarines, each loaded with 96 warheads, in transit or being replenished in port for their next missions as part of a Ready Responsive Force for a rapidly building crisis, plus two or three unarmed boats in overhaul.
- 50 to 100 additional Minuteman III missiles, taken off alert and without warheads, and 20–25 bombers, unarmed, in maintenance and training, all of which would comprise a Strategic Responsive Force for a more slowly building confrontation.
John Isaacs 202-546-0795 ext. 2222 jdi@armscontrolcenter.org
John Isaacs is the Executive Director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation where his work focuses on national security issues in Congress, Iraq, missile defense, and nuclear weapons. Isaacs has published articles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Christian Science Monitor, Nuclear Times, Arms Control Today, American Journal of Public Health, and Technology Review.