Pentagon announces US strategic force structure fit for US-Russia arms control treaty
9 April 2014, 13:30 -- US Defense Department on Tuesday announced a US strategic force structure designed to comply with the 2011 US-Russia arms control treaty, or the New START.
The treaty limits the total number of deployed and nondeployed US strategic delivery vehicles to 800. By Feb. 5, 2018, the country's total deployed and nondeployed force will consist of 454 intercontinental ballistic missile launchers (ICBMs), 280 submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers (SLBMs) and 66 heavy bombers.
The US deployed forces will consist of 400 deployed ICBMs and 240 deployed SLBMs. The Defense Department will also maintain 60 deployed nuclear-capable heavy bombers, for a total of 700 deployed strategic delivery vehicles, the treaty limit.
In a statement announcing the strategic force structure, Pentagon officials called it a capable, survivable and balanced force that fully supports the presidential national security and nuclear weapons employment strategies and maintains strategic stability and deterrence, extended deterrence and allied assurance.
The force structure maintains the commitments set forth in the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, the report to Congress on the new presidential nuclear employment guidance, and the most recent Quadrennial Defense Review that says the United States will maintain a triad of ICBMs, SLBMs and nuclear-capable heavy bombers within the central New START limits, according to the Pentagon officials.
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