The United States should continue modernizing its nuclear arsenal while it considers pursuing new nuclear capabilities, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Monday at the American Enterprise Institute.
“We need to modernize our nuclear arsenal and missile defenses,” Cotton said at an event on renewing American strength abroad, where he also called for rebuilding the U.S. military and increasing the defense budget.
Cotton noted that President Donald Trump has ordered a new Nuclear Posture Review to set the nation’s nuclear policy in the coming years. The previous Obama administration last crafted a Nuclear Posture Review in 2010.
Since then, Cotton said, “Russia has developed extended range cruise missiles, violating its treaty agreements, and faced no consequences, and this is while Russia reportedly has a 10-to-1 advantage over us and our NATO allies in tactical nuclear warheads.”
Cotton was referring to Russia’s violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibits the two countries from fielding surface-to-surface ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
The Congressional Research Service has said that while the United States has roughly 760 tactical nuclear weapons – around 200 of which are deployed in Europe – Russia is believed to have between 1,000 and 6,000 such nonstrategic nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
“We must at a minimum study new nuclear capabilities while we fully fund current modernization plans,” Cotton also said at the event, though he did not specify the type or purpose of such capabilities. He added that “nuclear strategy can no longer be solely bilateral,” noting that China’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal should also be addressed.
